Tech Stocks Drop at the Start of a Big Week

US stocks drifted to a mixed finish on Monday as the countdown ticked toward potentially market-moving events coming later in the week.

• The S&P 500 fell 21.51 points, or 0.3%, to 7,652.86, pulling further from its record set earlier this month.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 140.15 points, or 0.3%, to 53,417.16.
• The Nasdaq composite fell 200.26 points, or 0.8%, to 25,980.19.

Investors are waiting for Nvidia's profit report coming Wednesday, which could shed light on how strong the AI boom remains, the AP reports. On Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh will give a speech as pressure rises on him to hike interest rates to get inflation under control.

Tech stocks led the way downward following big swings through the summer on worries that the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology sent prices too high and that the huge demand for AI chips won't be sustainable if they don't produce enough profits. Chip giant Nvidia has been a tremendous winner of the AI boom and became Wall Street's largest and most influential stock because of it. It will deliver its latest quarterly earnings report on Wednesday, which could dictate the next big move for AI-related stocks. Nvidia sank 2.9% and was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500, where the majority of stocks rose. Drops of 5.8% for Micron Technology and 2.6% for Broadcom also helped drag the index lower.

The other big factor moving stocks recently has been the bond market, where longer-term Treasury yields climbed through the summer on worries about high inflation, huge government debts, and other factors. High yields make it more expensive for everyone to borrow, not just the government, and have already been pushing up mortgage rates and hurting the housing industry.

• The US Treasury Department announced a surprise move last week to increase the size of planned buybacks of Treasurys, which could help contain the rise in yields for 10- and 30-year Treasurys. But analysts warned the move may have only a limited effect because of how small the size of the buybacks are and how they do not fix the fundamental problems of too-high debt for the US government and expensive oil prices because of the war with Iran.
• On Monday, the yield of the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.70% from 4.74% late Friday and is back below where it was late Tuesday, before the Treasury Department made its surprise announcement. Helping to bring yields down on Monday was a drop in oil prices. Brent crude fell 2.3% to $90.55 per barrel.