Nasdaq 100 Index falls into correction territory, Philadelphia Semiconductor Index drops for the fifth consecutive day

Gelonghui July 30｜The Federal Reserve has kept the target range for the federal funds rate unchanged at 3.5% to 3.75%. This marks the fifth consecutive time this year that rates have remained unchanged. The three major US stock indices plunged near the close: the Dow Jones fell 2.19%, the S&P 500 dropped 1.52%, and the Nasdaq slipped 1.74%. The Nasdaq 100 Index, which is more focused on technology-weighted stocks, fell 2.06% on Wednesday, accumulating more than an 11% drop from its June high and entering the correction zone. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 5.33%, marking its fifth consecutive decline. Optical communications and memory sectors continued their steep descent; Micron Technology dropped about 10%, Kioxia ADR fell over 9%, Coherent lost over 8%, Credo, Lumentum, and SanDisk all fell more than 7%, Marvell Technology declined more than 6%, Intel and AMD dropped over 5%, SK Hynix slipped 2.6%.

Coca-Cola rose nearly 1%, reaching another record high. The oil sector also saw broad gains as US-Iran tensions heated up; Apache Corporation was up more than 5%, ConocoPhillips and Occidental Petroleum rose over 3% each.

US-listed Chinese stocks continued to gain for a third straight day. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index closed up 1.73% Wednesday. Alibaba fell 0.14%, Pinduoduo rose 3.05%, NetEase rose 1.78%, JD.com gained 1.29%, Baidu rose 0.33%, Trip.com rose 1.52%, Li Auto surged 4.47%.