Why Wall Street's Quiet Monday Turned Into a Rocky Afternoon
Key Points
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 0.8% while the Nasdaq-100 and S&P 500 are slightly negative.
Micron Technology jumped 6% on bullish AI commentary, but Apple and Broadcom dragged down the cap-weighted indexes.
Berkshire Hathaway reported $408.4 billion in cash and short-term investments over the weekend, a new record.
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This morning, I was planning to talk about a quiet start to the week. In the early session, Wall Street looked downright sleepy with the three big stock market indexes hovering near the breakeven line.
But the calm didn't last. As of this writing at 1:46 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) is down by a significant 0.8%. The Nasdaq-100 and S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) are still doing all right, but all three have dipped below the 0% line.
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^NDX data by YCharts
Big tech giveth and taketh away
The cap-weighted indexes are a mixed bag today. Memory chip giant Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) is up 6% due to bullish market commentary by CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. AI-based demand for memory chips is hotter than ever.
But the far larger tech titans Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) are down by 1%-2%. That's more than enough to outweigh Micron's bullish effect on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100.
Image source: Getty Images.
As usual, the Dow is a different story. The 7 largest weight-adjusted moves today are all bearish -- but it's more about lofty stock prices than big swings. The top needle-movers are a 1.8% price drop for Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and a 1.3% drawdown in Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), both of which trade at roughly $900 per share nowadays.
The catalysts behind these modest price drops are not exactly surprising. Military tensions are flaring up again in the Strait of Hormuz, and prediction markets expect the conflict to last until August or longer. As a result, oil prices are up 3% today. According to AAA, the average gas price is about $4.46 per gallon today, up from $4.11 a week ago and $3.17 in May 2025.
Buckle up for a bumpy week (and maybe more)
So Wall Street's week is off to a rocky start, although the underlying price moves are fairly modest. Things will probably change over the next few days, as the Q1 earnings season rolls on with hundreds of big names reporting their recent results. Geopolitical tensions and the resulting oil price volatility will only add to the instability.
Speaking of earnings, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA) (NYSE: BRKB) released its Q1 report over the weekend. Warren Buffett's insurance-based conglomerate is sitting on more uninvested cash than ever, with $408.4 billion of cash and short-term investments in Q1 2026. That's up from $387.0 billion three months earlier.
If Warren Buffett's successors are hoarding cash right now, it might make sense to follow suit. Market makers didn't exactly love the report, and Berkshire's stock is also down by roughly 1% today after starting out on a mildly positive note.
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Anders Bylund has positions in Micron Technology. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Broadcom, Caterpillar, and Micron Technology. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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