Nasdaq rises as Microsoft, techs rally

Dow, S&P 500 down again over ongoing worry for U.S. banks

NEW YORK — Wall Street fell again Wednesday, though a rally for Microsoft and some other Big Tech stocks helped to limit the losses.

The S&P 500 dropped 15.64 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,055.99. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 228.96, or 0.7 percent, to 33,301.87, while the Nasdaq composite led the market with a gain of 55.19, or 0.5 percent, to 11,854.35.

Wall Street was coming off its worst day in a month, hurt by concerns about the strength of U.S. banks. The spotlight has been harshest on First Republic Bank, which lost another 29.8 percent after nearly halving the day before. That’s when it gave details about how many customers bolted amid last month’s turmoil in the industry.

The worry is that it and other smaller and midsized banks could suffer debilitating runs of deposits from customers, similar to the ones that caused last month’s failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. Even without more shutdowns, the industry’s struggles could cause a pullback in lending by banks that saps the economy.

Pacwest Bancorp., another bank that’s been in investors’ spotlight, rose

7.5 percent after reporting stronger results than expected and saying that its deposits have grown since late March. That may offer optimism that First Republic’s struggles could be specific to itself, rather than a symptom of deeper issues with the system.

Also dropping sharply Wednesday was Enphase Energy, which fell 25.7 percent despite reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than forecast. Analysts pointed to its revenue forecast for the current quarter, which fell short of some expectations.

The majority of companies have been topping expectations so far this reporting season, but the low bar set for them has many investors paying more attention to what CEOS say about upcoming trends than results for the past three months.

Activision Blizzard, meanwhile, tumbled 11.4 percent after U.K. regulators blocked its takeover by Microsoft on concerns it would hurt competition in the cloud gaming market.

While the majority of stocks fell, gains for Microsoft and other Big Tech companies prevented a sharper slide for the market.

Microsoft rose 7.2 percent after reporting stronger profit for the first three months of the year than analysts expected.