The broader stock indices came under pressure today with the S&P index, and the NASDAQ index leading the way to the downside. The Dow Industrial Average closed marginally higher. The Russell 2000 of small-cap stocks also fell.

A snapshot of the closing levels shows:

• Dow Industrial Average rose 10.57 points or 0.02% at 44922.39
• S&P index fell -37.70 points or -0.58% at 6411.45
• NASDAQ index fell -314 points or -1.46% at 21314.95

Chip stocks came under pressure with the exception of Intel as the government works out a deal for swapping the Chips Act funds for equity. Intel also sold $2 billion of stock to SoftBank. Despite the dilution, the market is cheering on the confidence by both the government and SoftBank in the company’s fortunes (TBD). Intel’s shares rose 6.97%

Other chips stocks did not fare as well:

• Broadcom -3.55%
• Nvidia -3.55%
• AMD -5.44%
• Taiwan Semiconductor -3.16%
• ASML -0.53%
• Micron -1.51%

The NASDAQ index closed just below its 100-hour moving average at 21333.30 (the moving averages moving modestly to the upside). That is a short-term bearish tilt but tomorrow will be a key from a technical perspective. The 200 hour moving average is currently at 21123.54.

Looking at the different S&P sectors it wasn’t all bad today. In fact 7 of11 sectors gained. Real estate rose by 1.8% and consumer Staples by 1.0%. Utilities rose by 0.83% and Healthcare also advanced nicely with a gain of 0.62%. Below are the winners and losers by sector.

• Information Technology (S5INFT): -1.88%

• Telecom Services (S5TELS): -1.16%

• Consumer Discretionary (S5COND): -0.38%

• Energy (SPN): -0.19%

• Industrials (S5INDU): +0.19%

• Financials (SPF): +0.17%

• Materials (S5MATR): +0.53%

• Health Care (S5HLTH): +0.62%

• Utilities (S5UTIL): +0.83%

• Consumer Staples (S5CONS): +1.00%

• Real Estate (S5REAS): +1.80%