S&P 500 Gains and Losses Today: Solar Stocks, Airline Shares Fall; Jabil Climbs

Major U.S. equities indexes lost ground as President Donald Trump escalated his rhetoric against Iran, reinvigorating concerns about the potential for drawn-out fighting in the Middle East and the possibility that the U.S. could take a more active role in the conflict.

The S&P 500 dropped 0.8% on Tuesday. The Dow industrials ended the session 0.7% lower, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 0.9%. Read Investopedia’s full coverage of today’s trading here.

Shares of renewable energy companies plunged as a Senate budget proposal maintained the House reconciliation bill’s elimination of clean-energy tax credits. A draft Senate bill stipulates a phase-out of solar and wind energy tax credits by 2028 but extends incentives for hydro, nuclear, and geothermal power until 2036. Shares of solar microinverter maker Enphase Energy (ENPH) plummeted 24%, losing the most of any S&P 500 stock, while shares of panel manufacturer First Solar (FSLR) fell 18%. Shares of power utility AES Corp. (AES), which garners a majority of its renewable energy revenue from wind and solar, sank 8.1%.

Airline stocks ran into some turbulence after the CEO of JetBlue (JBLU) said the carrier would be dropping unprofitable routes, among other cost-cutting measures, in response to soft travel demand. JetBlue shares lost 7.9%, while shares of rivals United Airlines (UAL) and Delta Air Lines (DAL) were down 6.2% and 4.3%, respectively. Rising oil prices also weighed on airline shares.

T-Mobile US (TMUS) shares slid 4.1% following reports that Japanese investment firm SoftBank (SFTBY) sold a major portion of its stake in the telecommunications giant. According to Bloomberg, SoftBank unloaded 21.5 million T-Mobile shares at a discount to the stock’s Monday closing price. The Tokyo-based conglomerate could use the $4.8 billion it raised to fund investments in the artificial intelligence space.

Shares of circuit board maker Jabil (JBL) surged 8.9%, reaching a record high and securing the day’s top performance in the S&P 500. The company posted better-than-expected sales and profits for its fiscal third quarter and lifted its full-year guidance. Jabil highlighted its Intelligent Infrastructure segment, which is benefitting from strong AI-related demand, as a growth driver, despite some softness in its electric vehicle, renewables, and 5G markets.

Crude oil futures pushed higher as concerns about the fighting in the Middle East regained intensity. The uptick helped left stocks across the oil and gas industry. Shares of Valero Energy (VLO), the world’s largest independent oil refiner, advanced 2.9%.

CrowdStrike Holdings (CRWD) shares added 2.6% after the new incident response service for Amazon Web Services customers. According to the companies, CrowdStrike’s AI-powered Falcon cybersecurity platform can help users of the Amazon (AMZN) cloud service respond more quickly to incidents.