Stock market today: Dow ends lower as Moody's bank downgrade bites

Investing.com -- The Dow cut some losses but closed lower Tuesday, as bank stocks fell after credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded the debt ratings on a slew of U.S. banks on concerns about pressures on profit.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5%, or 158 points, the S&P 500 fell 0.4%, and Nasdaq fell 0.8%

Banks cut some losses, but still weigh after Moody’s cuts ratings on several banks

Moody’s downgraded the ratings of 10 banks by one notch and placed six banks including US Bancorp (NYSE:USB), and State Street (NYSE:STT) on review for downgrades.

The ratings agency said second-quarter results from the banks showed “growing profitability pressures that will reduce their ability to generate internal capital.”

Bank stocks cut some losses, but ended the day lower, with Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN), and Citizens Financial (NYSE:CFG) down more than 1%.

Big tech, chip stocks slip as Treasury Yields Climb

Big tech including Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) were a drag on tech as recent concerns about valuation and a rise in Treasury yields persist.

As well as weakness in big tech, a more than 1% fall in semiconductor stocks was paced by declines in Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD), Marvell Technology Group Ltd (NASDAQ:MRVL) and Novanta.

Novanta Inc (NASDAQ:NOVT) fell more than 11% after the semiconductor equipment maker cut its annual guidance as headwinds including reduced IT infrastructure spending and weakness in China are expected to intensify in the second half of the year.

Chegg rides AI wave on earnings stage, Beyond Meat disappoints

Chegg Inc (NYSE:CHGG) reported a beat on quarterly revenue and stoked investor optimism by detailing plans to make a further push into generative artificial intelligence to ward off the threat from ChatGPT. Its shares ended more than 4% higher.

Some on Wall Street, however, want to see further evidence that a further push into AI will help demand rebound as the widespread use of AI tools such as ChatGPT poses a threat to Chegg’s business.

“While we agree that embracing generative AI aggressively and immediately is the right call and will likely result in a bigger market opportunity and an even better user experience, the reduced near-term visibility is keeping us on the sidelines,” Barrington Research said in a note.

Beyond Meat Inc (NASDAQ:BYND) fell more than 14% after the plant-based meat company reported second-quarter revenue that fell short of estimates as demand for plant-based meat waned in the U.S.

“Given Beyond Meat’s focus on cutting costs, we think it will be increasingly hard for the company to invest the necessarily level to spur demand on their own and will thus need assistance from competitors,” UBS said in a note.

Dish rallies on merger fever

DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ:DISH) said it would merge with satellite operator EchoStar to create a wireless connectivity company valued at about roughly $6 billion.

The move, which reunites the two companies following the spinoff of Dish from Echostar (NASDAQ:SATS) in 2008, will combine Dish's satellite, streaming services and 5G network with EchoStar's satellite infrastructure.