Wall Street slumps as bank and tech stocks fall
[January 15, 2026] By
STAN CHOE
NEW YORK (AP) — Losses for several banks and Big Tech stocks pulled
indexes lower on Wednesday, even though the majority of stocks on Wall
Street rose.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.5% for its second straight loss after setting its
all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 42 points, or
0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite lost 1%.
Wells Fargo helped pull the market lower after falling 4.6%. The San
Francisco-based bank reported weaker profit and revenue for the latest
quarter than expected, with analysts citing lower trading fees and other
miscellaneous items.
Bank of America fell 3.8% despite reporting a stronger profit than
analysts expected, with some consternation about the size of its
upcoming expenses. Citigroup, which is in the midst of a turnaround
under Chair and CEO Jane Fraser, fell 3.3% following its own profit
report.
Companies across industries are under pressure to report strong growth
in profits to justify how high their stock prices have run recently.
Analysts are looking for businesses across the S&P 500 to report
earnings per share for the final three months of 2025 that are roughly
8% higher than a year earlier, according to FactSet.
Biogen sank 5% after the biotechnology company said it expects to take a
hit to its profit for the fourth quarter of 2025 due to research and
development expenses and other costs that it acquired.
The heaviest weights on the market were tech stocks, which gave back a
bit of their huge gains from recent years created by the frenzy around
artificial-intelligence technology. Such stellar performances caused
some critics to say their stock prices had become too expensive.
Nvidia fell 1.4%, and Broadcom sank 4.2%.
Still, more stocks rose on Wall Street than fell, and the strongest
forces keeping the S&P 500 from steeper losses were Exxon Mobil and
other oil companies.
Exxon Mobil rose 2.9%, and Chevron climbed 2.1% as the price for a
barrel of benchmark U.S. oil rose 1.4% to settle at $62.02.
Stocks of smaller companies also did better than the rest of the market,
with the Russell 2000 index rising 0.7%.
All told, the S&P 500 fell 37.14 points to 6,926.60. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average dipped 42.36 to 49,149.63, and the Nasdaq composite
fell 238.12 to 23,471.75.
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Specialist Michael Pistillo works at his post on the floor of the
New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard
Drew)
 Oil prices have rallied recently
after protests swept Iran, which is a member of the OPEC group that
helps set crude prices. The protests could lead to disruptions in
production and squeeze supplies of crude.
Brent crude, the international standard, rose 1.6% and briefly
brought its gain for the year so far to nearly 10%, before prices
for both it and U.S. oil fell back later in the afternoon.
In the bond market, Treasury yields sank as investors sought
investments seen as safer. Several reports on the U.S. economy also
came in mixed.
One said that shoppers spent more at U.S. retailers in November than
economists expected. That could be an encouraging signal about the
main engine of the U.S. economy.
A separate report said prices rose modestly at the U.S. wholesale
level in November. It followed data on Tuesday that said inflation
at the U.S. consumer level was close last month to economists’
expectations, though it remained above the Federal Reserve’s 2%
target.
Taken altogether, the reports did little to change Wall Street’s
expectation that the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate
at least twice this year to shore up the job market, likely
beginning around June, according to CME Group.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.14% from 4.18% late
Tuesday.
In stock markets abroad, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied 1.5% to another
record as expectations grew that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi may
call general elections soon.
Indexes were mixed elsewhere. Stocks rose 0.6% in Hong Kong but fell
0.3% in Shanghai after a report showed China’s trade surplus surged
20% in 2025 to a record despite President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
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AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.
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