Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 2, 2024.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite pulled back from record highs Monday, with tech shares struggling and investors looking ahead to key inflation data due out this week.
The broad market index fell 0.61% to close at 6,052.85, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 0.62% to end at 19,736.69. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 240.59 points, or 0.54%, settling at 44,401.93.
Nvidia shares dropped about 2.6% on the heels of a Chinese regulator announcing that it's investigating the artificial intelligence chip darling for potentially violating the country's antimonopoly law. The stock has been a bellwether for the artificial intelligence trade, up more than 180% in 2024.
Advanced Micro Devices, another chipmaker, closed 5.6% lower after Bank of America downgraded the stock to neutral from buy, with the bank citing its limited market share gain potential as a result of "higher competitive risks in AI against best-of-breed NVDA's dominance." Tech giants Meta Platforms and Netflix also struggled.
The price of bitcoin retreated as well, a sign that investors are moving away from risk-taking. The cryptocurrency topped $100,000 for the first time ever on Wednesday evening last week.
The moves come after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at fresh records Friday, rising about 1% and 3.3% for the week, respectively. The Dow was the lone laggard, closing the week down 0.6%.
"In general, you still have an upward trajectory in the market because of the favorable seasonals, etc.," Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, told CNBC. He added that news like China's investigation into Nvidia will "provide some hurdles along the way, but I don't think [that] will upend the advance through year-end."
"It will continue to climb a wall of worry this year and end up surpassing the advance that we saw last year," the strategist continued.
The November consumer price index, due out Wednesday, is expected to show a slight uptick in pricing pressures. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect a 0.3% and 2.7% monthly and yearly increase, respectively. That would be up from 0.2% and 2.6%, respectively, in the prior month.