Chipmakers put crimp in stocks

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks bounced up and down and finished mostly lower Wednesday as technology companies slumped. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross discussed a more nationalist trade stance, with uncertain effects for the market. The dollar, already at a three-year low, got even weaker.

Stocks got off to a strong start, but technology companies took heavier losses as the day wore on, led by chipmakers after Texas Instruments gave a disappointing forecast for the current quarter. Apple also fell.

The dollar sagged against other currencies after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the currency’s decline is good for U.S. exporters, suggesting he isn’t likely to try to stop its slide. Airlines plunged after United Continental said it plans to ramp up passenger capacity.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 1.59 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,837.54. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 41.31 points, or 0.2 percent, to 26,252.12. In the morning the Dow rose as much as 181 points and later fell as much as 103 points before turning higher again. That’s an unusually large swing for the Dow given the market’s recent lack of volatility.

The Nasdaq composite fell 45.23 points, or 0.6 percent, to 7,415.06. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks skidded 11.10 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,599.61.

“Small caps are much more domestically focused than large caps are, but [they are] still buying from foreign companies,” said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide Investment Management.

Hackett said smaller U.S. companies will report faster profit growth this year than larger ones. That’s because the benefit those companies will get from the recent corporate tax cut will outweigh the pain from the weaker dollar.

European stocks dropped. Germany’s DAX slumped 1.1 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.7 percent. The British FTSE 100 fell 1.1 percent.

Texas Instruments fell $10.19, or 8.5 percent, to $109.70 after analysts were disappointed with its revenue forecast for the current quarter. Competitor Applied Materials gave up 91 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $56.88, and Nvidia fell $3.11, or 1.3 percent, to $235.80.

Chipmakers have made huge gains in recent months, and Nvidia has more than doubled over the last year. Citi Investment Research analyst Christopher Danely said business conditions for chipmakers are weakening after a run of strong results.

United Continental plunged after it said it’s planning more aggressive growth over the next few years. It’s aiming to increase its passenger-carrying capacity by 4 to 6 percent a year through 2020. United has done better recently at handling competition with lowercost carriers, but investors worried that more flights will mean reduced prices and hurt its profits. The stock plunged $8.92, or 11.4 percent, to $69.05.

The dollar dropped to 109.05 yen from 110.30 yen. The euro advanced to $1.2405 from $1.2294. The ICE US dollar index fell almost 10 percent in 2017 and is down 3 percent so far this year.

Gold climbed $19.60, or 1.5 percent, to $1,356.30 an ounce, and silver rose 58 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $17.49 an ounce. Copper rose 12 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $3.23 a pound.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.64 percent from 2.62 percent. That helped banks because higher yields let them charge higher interest rates on loans. JPMorgan Chase rose $1.46, or 1.3 percent, to $115.67.

Asian stocks were mixed. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.8 percent while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong index rose 0.1 percent. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.1 percent.