The three major US indexes closed lower in overnight trading on September 16, as risk-off sentiment spread and heavyweight tech names came under pressure. The Dow Jones slipped 0.61%, the S&P 500 fell 0.45%, and the Nasdaq retreated 0.78%. Flagship names including Google, Microsoft and Amazon all declined, dragging the overall market into the red.

Yet the session told a story of sharp structural divergence. While mainstream tech retreated, the semiconductor complex bucked the trend and climbed in an independent rally. Qualcomm jumped 4.25%, with AMD and ASML also closing in the green — one of the few bright spots on the day. Faced with risk aversion, capital rotated out of richly valued AI applications and internet names and back into hardcore hardware manufacturing.

The chip rebound is rooted in recovering global semiconductor supply-chain demand and an ongoing inventory-cycle repair. At the same time, steady expectations of long-term demand for AI hardware and computing power are underpinning valuation recovery. In contrast, crypto-linked stocks slumped hard: Coinbase and Circle both fell more than 10% as investors shunned risk. Analysts expect US equities to remain segmented in the near term, with the hard-tech track showing stronger resilience amid persistent volatility.