S&P 500, Nasdaq muted as investors await Mideast peace deal progress

By Twesha Dikshit and Utkarsh Hathi

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were muted on Wednesday in choppy trading, as investors remained cautious while awaiting progress in Middle East talks.

White House denied reports from Iran's state TV that said Tehran would restore Strait of Hormuz shipping within a month in exchange for a U.S. military pullback and lifting of a naval blockade.

Still, indexes traded near record highs. The Dow Jones nudged higher, lifted by a rotation into healthcare and consumer stocks. However, a pullback in chip stocks weighed on the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

"After such a large run-up in the markets, it's not surprising to me that there is a little bit of a pause," said Sean Clark, chief investment officer of Clark Capital Management Group.

"There's a lot of positives to look at right now. Even though the outperformers are really being driven by tech, AI and AI adjacent themes, I wouldn't discount the fact that the broad market is participating as well."

At 11:35 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 212.62 points, or 0.42%, to 50,674.30, the S&P 500 lost 3.67 points, or 0.05%, to 7,515.45 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 39.32 points, or 0.15%, to 26,616.86.

Seven of the 11 main S&P 500 sectors were in the positive territory, with consumer discretionary leading the gains, up almost 2%.

The healthcare index rose 0.7%, while consumer staples added 1.5%.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 energy index fell 1.2%, tracking a decline of as much as 5% in oil prices. Tech shares shed 1% after reaching an all-time high on Tuesday.

Chip stocks were down after a strong rally. Intel and Marvell Technology fell over 4% each, while Qualcomm shed 9.2%.

The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index lost 2.7%, with chip giant Nvidia off 2.3%.

Zscaler tumbled 31% after the cloud security firm projected fourth-quarter revenue below expectations.

JPMorgan shares dropped 3.3% after CEO Jamie Dimon said expenses for the year could be $1 billion higher than earlier estimates. The declines pressured the financials index.

Among other movers, GlobalFoundries fell 11.6% after Bloomberg News reported that majority owner Mubadala Investment Company was seeking to raise $1.91 billion from an unregistered block sale of GFS shares.

Bath & Body Works jumped 12.3% after reporting first-quarter sales and profit above expectations, while Abercrombie and Fitch advanced 11.3% on posting a strong quarterly profit.

EARNINGS DRIVE MARKETS, DATA AWAITED

A strong earnings season and expectations of about 29% year-on-year growth in the first quarter have aided the rally on Wall Street.

Goldman Sachs raised its 2026 year-end forecast for the S&P 500 to 8,000 from 7,600, citing continued strength in corporate earnings.

Markets will next look toward the personal consumption expenditures index data on Thursday. The Federal Reserve's key inflation measure could provide fresh clues on the monetary policy path forward under new chair Kevin Warsh.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.4-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.24-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 36 new 52-week highs and 6 new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 139 new highs and 52 new lows.

(Reporting by Twesha Dikshit and Utkarsh Hathi; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Joyjeet Das)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published May 27, 2026 at 12:16 PM.