Stocks on Wall Street closed lower on Wednesday as declines in major technology companies outweighed gains in the rest of the market.

The S&P 500 fell 0.6 percent, weighed down by losses at Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon. About 56 percent of the stocks in the benchmark index closed in the red. Stocks in the technology sector include many companies with above-average values ​​that tend to be more closely aligned with the index.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which had previously reached two all-time highs in a row, fell 0.4 percent. The Nasdaq Composite, which is heavily influenced by technology stocks, closed 1.1 percent lower.

The sale came ahead of a highly anticipated earnings report from semiconductor maker Nvidia, whose chips power AI applications. The company is one of the most influential stocks on Wall Street with a total market value of over $3 trillion.

Nvidia reported its second-quarter results late Wednesday. Earnings and revenue beat Wall Street forecasts, but the stock fell 3.7 percent in after-hours trading. During the regular session, shares fell 2.1 percent. For the full year, the company is still down 153 percent.

The chipmaker is one of several companies that have ridden a wave of enthusiasm for artificial intelligence development and were responsible for much of the big gains in the overall market last year.

The market decline ahead of Nvidia’s quarterly earnings release may be partly due to news about another artificial intelligence-related company, Super Micro Computer.

Shares of the server technology company fell 19.1%, the biggest decline among S&P 500 stocks, after the company said There were delays in submitting the annual report.

“I think the super-micro story makes people nervous because it’s so directly tied to the AI ​​issue,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird.

Investors also reviewed a mixed set of earnings and financial reports from other companies on Wednesday. Nordstrom rose 4.2% after the company beat analysts’ earnings expectations and raised its financial forecasts for the year. Rival Kohl’s rose 0.3% after the company also beat analysts’ earnings expectations.

PVH, which owns the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands, fell 6.4 percent after giving investors a sales forecast that fell short of analysts’ expectations. Food maker JM Smucker fell 4.9 percent after cutting its profit forecast for the year.

Overall, the S&P 500 fell by 33.62 points to 5,592.18. The Dow lost 159.08 points to 41,091.42. The Nasdaq lost 198.79 points to 17,556.03.

The latest numbers from retailers and other companies come as Wall Street and the Federal Reserve seek to gauge the resilience of U.S. consumers in the face of inflation and high borrowing rates. The latest reports from clothing retailers, food manufacturers and others may shed more light on how and where people are spending their money.

Investors are also looking ahead to Friday, when the U.S. government releases its latest inflation data with the Personal Consumption and Expenditure (PCE) report for July. The hope is that the data will show further moderation in inflation – or at least stagnation – so that Fed officials remain prepared to cut interest rates at their September meeting. They strongly recommended they would.

Economists expect PCE, the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, to show that inflation rose from 2.5% in June to 2.6% in July, up from 7.1% in mid-2022. Since then, the inflation rate has been steadily moving back toward the central bank’s 2% target following the Fed’s aggressive rate hikes.

Traders expect the central bank to begin cutting interest rates from a 20-year high at its next meeting in September, with cuts totaling up to 1% by the end of the year.

Expectations for these rate cuts follow reports on retail sales, employment and consumer confidence that show the economy remains strong. This has boosted confidence that the Fed will achieve its goal of curbing inflation without plunging the economy into recession.

“Economic fundamentals continue to point to sustained disinflation,” said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY.

Treasury yields were mixed in the bond market, with the 10-year Treasury yield rising to 3.84% from 3.83% on Tuesday.

The investor Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway sells more of its Bank of America stake, selling nearly 25 million shares worth nearly $1 billion last week. Berkshire Hathaway’s Class A shares, already the most expensive stocks on Wall Street, gained enough ground to lift the conglomerate into the club of companies valued by the stock market at over $1 trillion. It is the only company outside the technology-related “Magnificent Seven” to hold that distinction.

Berkshire Class A shares rose $5,152.03, or 0.7%, to close at $696,502.02.

Otherwise, markets in Europe mostly recorded declines and markets in Asia saw mixed figures.

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Yuri Kageyama, Matt Ott and Josh Funk contributed.