Wall Street ends mixed as tech dips, defense stocks rally

Jan 8 (Reuters) – Wall Street ended mixed on Thursday, as Nvidia and other technology stocks dipped, while defense companies advanced after President Donald Trump called for an enlarged $1.5 trillion military budget.

Nvidia, Broadcom and Microsoft declined. A drop in the S&P 500 technology index left it down about 1% so far in 2026, as investors grew more finicky about AI-related stocks whose valuations have been inflated by outsized gains in recent years.

Alphabet gained the day after the Google parent surpassed Apple in market capitalization for the first time since 2019, becoming the second-most valuable U.S. company. The iPhone maker’s stock declined.

“While AI is still hot, there are going to be winners and losers,” said  Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth. “It’s become a ‘show me’ sector. Show me how you monetize this. Show me if there’s going to be a return on the capex you’re putting into your development.”

Defense stocks gained after Trump said the 2027 U.S. military budget should be $1.5 trillion, much higher than the $901 billion approved by Congress for 2026.

Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Kratos Defense gained.

Some defense stocks fell in the prior session, after Trump threatened to block defense contractors from paying dividends or buying back shares until they speed up weapons production.

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly hit intra-day record highs on Wednesday, and valuations remained relatively high ahead of fourth-quarter earnings season.

The S&P 500 is trading at about 22 times expected earnings, down from 23 in November, but above its five-year average of 19, according to LSEG data.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 0.18 points, or 0.00%, to end at 6,920.89 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 103.47 points, or 0.44%, to 23,480.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 260.79 points, or 0.53%, to 49,256.87.

The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits rose moderately last week, though demand for labor remained sluggish, supporting Wednesday’s ADP employment and JOLTS figures.

Traders were focused on Friday’s crucial nonfarm payrolls report for December, which would be among the first reliable datasets after the longest U.S. government shutdown in history.

Fitch raised its U.S. growth outlook, estimating GDP expanded 2.1% in 2025 and forecasting 2.0% growth in 2026 after incorporating economic data delayed by last year’s government shutdown.

AI-related memory chipmakers lost ground after a stellar rally. SanDisk, Western Digital and Seagate all fell.

Ford jumped after Piper Sandler upgraded the automaker to “overweight” from “neutral”.

(Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru and by Noel Randewich in San Francisco; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli, Maju Samuel and David Gregorio)