Wall St stalls as tech stocks slide after recent gains

Wall Street's main indexes fell on Thursday, following a three-day winning streak for the S&P 500, as heavyweight technology stocks slipped, while Walmart shares gained after the retail giant's fourth quarter results.

The retailer's new CEO, John Furner, kicked off his tenure with a conservative fiscal 2027 forecast as well as a $30 billion buyback plan. Shares of the company rose 2.4%.

Other megacap and growth stocks, including Apple, Nvidia and Meta Platforms, traded lower after rising in the previous session.

The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index fell 1.6%, while the broader S&P 500 technology index was down 0.9%.

Broader AI-linked and megacap technology stocks are facing turbulence amid concerns over high valuations and limited evidence that significant investments in AI are driving revenue and profit growth.

Sectors ranging from software to trucking have been hit by concerns that rapidly improving AI tools could disrupt their business models.

Kim Forrest, founder and chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital, attributed the recent volatility in U.S. stocks to shifting sentiment towards AI.

"So on any given day, the bias switches very fast and that's a great indicator of overall investor nervousness."

At 09:43 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 223.51 points, or 0.45%, to 49,431.52, the S&P 500 lost 25.10 points, or 0.36%, to 6,856.21 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 131.75 points, or 0.58%, to 22,621.89.

In earnings-related moves, DoorDash rose almost 2% after the food delivery company forecast first-quarter marketplace gross order value above Wall Street estimates.

EBay gained 3.3% after the company forecast first-quarter revenue above analysts' estimates and announced the acquisition of fashion marketplace Depop from Etsy.

Carvana dropped 4.3% after the online used-car retailer missed fourth-quarter profit estimates on higher costs, while software provider EPAM Systems shed 19% as its cautious first-quarter outlook disappointed investors.

The S&P 500 energy index was up 1.7% as crude oil prices rose on mounting fears of a military conflict between the United States and Iran.

Occidental Petroleum added 9.2% after the U.S. shale producer beat fourth-quarter profit expectations.

WHAT THE FED THINKS

Meanwhile, minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting released on Wednesday showed policymakers were in near-unanimous agreement to hold interest rates steady.

Policymakers, however, remained split about the policy path later this year, with "several" open to rate hikes if inflation remains elevated, while others were inclined to support further cuts if it recedes in line with expectations.

At least four central bank officials, including Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee and Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman, are scheduled to speak during the day.

Weekly jobless claims data on Thursday pointed to a stabilizing labor market, with the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits falling more than expected.

The Personal Consumption Expenditure report - the Fed's preferred inflation gauge - is due on Friday and will be closely parsed for hints on the Fed's rate outlook.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 2-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.66-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 16 new 52-week highs and 5 new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 20 new highs and 62 new lows.

(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Twesha Dikshit in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Shinjini Ganguli)