Nasdaq slips into correction
The Nasdaq confirmed a correction on March 26—about a 23% drop from its peak and its weakest level since Sept. 2025, with Meta and Micron among the big drags (reuters.com) (fool.com). At the same time the S&P 500’s Q1 earnings are still expected to rise ~12.8% year‑over‑year, but tech is doing the heavy lifting—tech earnings growth is pegged near +27.1% vs. ~5.6% for the rest of the index (markets.financialcontent.com) (sg.finance.yahoo.com).
The Nasdaq Composite finished the session at 21,408.08, slipping 2.38% on March 26, 2026. (indexes.nasdaq.com) Meta Platforms plunged roughly 8% on the day and Micron Technology fell about 7%, making them two of the largest single-stock drags on the tech-heavy index. (fool.com) All three major U.S. indexes fell below their 200‑day moving averages on Thursday, a rare simultaneous breakdown that traders flagged as a sign of weakening breadth. (benzinga.com) Reuters said the Nasdaq’s selloff in recent sessions amounted to its worst stretch since April 2025 amid renewed war-related uncertainty, while oil prices climbed past $105 a barrel and added pressure to equities. (money.usnews.com) On earnings, FactSet’s weekly tracker put the S&P 500’s Q1 blended earnings-growth estimate at about 12.5%, which FactSet noted would be the sixth straight quarter of double‑digit year‑over‑year EPS growth if it holds. (factset.com) Analysts at Zacks estimate the tech sector now accounts for roughly 35.9% of S&P 500 earnings — a concentration that helps explain why the headline earnings gain is largely dependent on a handful of large-cap tech names. (markets.financialcontent.com) Bloomberg reported eight of the 11 S&P sectors closed lower on March 26, underscoring that the market’s gains remain narrowly concentrated even as aggregate earnings expectations have been revised higher. (bloomberg.com)
