US close: Mixed finish but chip stocks bounce back
By Benjamin Chiou
Date: Friday 18 Sep 2026
(Sharecast News) - US stocks finished mixed on Friday after a volatile week marked by big swings in the oil and bond markets and three major central bank decisions, including the Federal Reserve's first rate hike in three years.
The Dow settled 0.2% lower, while the S&P 500 gained 0.2% and the Nasdaq rose 0.4%, bolstered by strong chip-stock performances after a bruising week amid AI slowdown fears.
However, analysts put the subdued performance overall down to the triple witching hour, which sees stock options, stock index futures and stock index options expire simultaneously,
"Triple witching - with more than $2 trillion notional value of US stock, index and futures options - provides little lift to US indices," said Axel Rudolph, chief technical analyst at IG.
Bonds were under pressure once again, lifting the two-year Treasury yield to 4.741%, its highest in over two years. The 10-year bond yield, which hit its highest since 2007 earlier in the week before pulling back, rose 6 basis points to 4.997%.
Oil prices were lower for the third straight day as markets weighed fresh cross‑border strikes between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Houthi movement against signs that additional Saudi crude could reach global markets and help ease supply concerns. Brent crude settled 0.9% lower at $103.87 a barrel, while WTI fell 1.6% to $100.30.
In equity movements, chip, data and memory stocks performed well, with Seagate Technology, Micron Technology, Applied Materials, ASML, Broadcom, Intel and Lam Research dominating the Nasdaq 100 risers list. SanDisk was another notable performer, rising 11%.
Netflix dropped after a Wells Fargo downgrade to 'underweight', with the bank citing a weaker content pipeline for the rest of the year.
On the macro front, US industrial production was flat in August, according to the Federal Reserve, as a dip in manufacturing offset modest gains elsewhere. Total output held steady after a 0.2% increase in July, leaving production 1.4% higher than a year earlier. Manufacturing output fell 0.3%, ending a seven‑month run of gains, while mining edged up 0.1% and utilities rose 1.8%. Capacity utilisation was unchanged at 76.3%, around three percentage points below its long‑run average.
Dow Jones - Risers
Intel Corp. (INTC) $108.60 3.36%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $385.65 1.90%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $808.99 1.30%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $336.13 0.91%
3M Co. (MMM) $165.89 0.72%
Boeing Co. (BA) $198.20 0.61%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $376.90 0.45%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $88.25 0.22%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $349.67 0.10%
American Express Co. (AXP) $311.56 0.03%
Dow Jones - Fallers
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $229.55 -3.45%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $28.73 -2.58%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $102.67 -2.54%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $35.51 -2.34%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $237.92 -2.03%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $374.62 -1.28%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $942.00 -1.00%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $209.51 -0.99%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $299.98 -0.84%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $146.39 -0.76%
S&P 500 - Risers
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $858.79 7.73%
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) $559.82 5.96%
Nasdaq Inc (NDAQ) $93.54 5.43%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $444.57 4.56%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $1,015.80 4.48%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $441.36 4.29%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $288.11 3.89%
Eaton Corporation plc (ETN) $424.77 3.74%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $108.60 3.36%
Quanta Services Inc. (PWR) $636.71 3.27%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Coterra Energy Inc. (CTRA) $32.56 -8.62%
Nucor Corp. (NUE) $248.38 -6.32%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $71.79 -6.24%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $177.72 -6.06%
Dxc Technology Company (DXC) $10.78 -5.77%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $128.17 -5.70%
Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. (ARE) $53.30 -5.40%
Western Union Co. (WU) $6.18 -5.36%
General Motors Corp (GM) $82.20 -5.10%
Accenture Plc (ACN) $181.29 -4.73%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $858.79 7.73%
Workday, Inc. (WDAY) $193.87 5.02%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $444.57 4.56%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $1,015.80 4.48%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $441.36 4.29%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $288.11 3.89%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $108.60 3.36%
Asml Holdings N.V. (ASML) $1,679.92 3.22%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $176.99 3.04%
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) $357.61 2.97%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Qvc Group Inc Series A (QVCGA) $0.34 -13.49%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $71.79 -6.24%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $177.72 -6.06%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $9.87 -5.96%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $128.17 -5.70%
Sirius XM Holdings Inc (SIRI) $27.31 -4.60%
Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $9.65 -4.36%
Intuit Inc. (INTU) $303.19 -4.31%
DENTSPLY Sirona Inc. (XRAY) $9.54 -4.12%
Gen Digital Inc. (GEN) $29.01 -4.12%
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