NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks and the price of gold fell, as momentum on Wall Street reverses. The S&P 500 sank 0.5% Wednesday, though it’s still not far below the all-time high it set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.7%, from its record set the day before, while the Nasdaq composite fell 0.9%. Netflix helped drag the market lower after reporting a profit that fell short of forecasts. Beyond Meat added more crazy swings to its meme-stock run, and the price of gold sank for a second straight day from its record. Stock indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks and the price of gold are falling on Wednesday, as momentum on Wall Street slams into reverse.
The S&P 500 sank 1% and is on track for one of its worst days of the past few months, though it's still close to its all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 417 points, or 0.9%, from its record set the day before, while the Nasdaq composite was down 1.7%, as of 2:20 p.m. Eastern time.
Netflix helped drag the market lower after delivering a weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The pressure is on the video streamer and on companies broadly to deliver solid growth in profits. That would help counter criticism that their stock prices shot too high following a 35% romp for the S&P 500 from a low in April.
Netflix’s stock came into the day with a jump of 39.3% for the year so far, more than double the S&P 500’s gain, before it dropped 9.9% on Wednesday
AT&T fell 2.4% after delivering a profit that only matched analysts’ expectations, while Texas Instruments sank 8% after its profit fell just short of forecasts.
On the winning side of Wall Street was Intuitive Surgical, which sells robotic-assisted surgical systems. It jumped 13.6% after reporting better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Boston Scientific climbed 4.3% after likewise topping analysts' profit expectations.
Capital One Financial rose 2%, and Western Alliance Bancorp climbed 2.7% following their better-than-expected profit updates. The report from Western Alliance was particularly welcome after it helped shake confidence in the industry last week. It’s one of several banks that had warned of potentially bad loans on its books, possibly because of fraud.
Beyond Meat, meanwhile, swung sharply up and down through a manic Wednesday. After more than doubling in the morning, its stock erased all of that gain to drop lower before it climbed back to a gain of 8.5%. It's surged nearly 509% so far this week.
Part of Beyond’s rise could be due to a recent announcement that Walmart will increase availability of some of its products at over 2,000 U.S. stores.
The maker of plant-based meat alternatives was also the biggest holding in the Roundhill Meme Stock exchange-traded fund, as of Tuesday. The ETF holds stocks where investors have piled in because they’re hoping to catch a wave of momentum, almost regardless of how or even what the businesses themselves are doing.
Momentum was continuing to head the other way for gold, which slipped 1.1% to $4,065.40 per ounce. That’s after Tuesday’s 5.3% slide knocked it off its record high.
Many of the same factors that drew buyers to gold this year are still there. Expectations are still for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates through next year. Concerns are growing about inflation remaining high. And the worrisome mountains of debt that the U.S. and other governments worldwide have amassed are only rising further.
But no investment’s price goes up forever, and criticism had been growing that gold’s price had gone too far, too fast after it shot up even more than the U.S. stock market. Gold’s price is still up roughly 55% for the year so far.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia.
London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.9% after a report on U.K. inflation raised hopes for another cut to interest rates next month. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.6% for another one of the world's bigger gains. But indexes fell 0.9% in Hong Kong and 0.6% in Paris.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 3.95% from 3.98% late Tuesday.
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AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.