Dow Jones: Stock Market Dips 400 Points on Earnings Misses and Triple-Witch Risk

Micron initially rallied on strong AI-related results, but the stock reversed sharply and is now down more than 7% in early trading. The company posted Q2 revenue of $8.05 billion, up 38% year over year, and guided Q3 above consensus. However, profit-taking and sector rotation outweighed optimism around its high-bandwidth memory sales, which exceeded $1 billion for the quarter and are fully booked through next year. The selloff is weighing on semiconductor stocks more broadly, limiting tech’s ability to support the indexes.

Why Is the Triple-Witching Expiration in Focus?

Roughly $4.7 trillion in equity options and futures contracts are set to expire today in a quarterly triple-witching event, making this one of the largest expirations since December. While these events can drive sharp moves, some analysts believe today’s expiration could pass with limited disruption, thanks to reduced hedging pressure.

Earlier this month, bearish positioning widened the put-call skew to multi-year highs, but recent equity stability has left many contracts out-of-the-money. This has eased short gamma exposure and helped drive the VIX down from near 30 to around 20.

What’s the Near-Term Outlook?

With triple-witching yet to play out, volatility remains a real risk into the afternoon session. Tariff-related uncertainty and fragile earnings sentiment are keeping traders on edge. Focus now turns to next week’s durable goods orders and consumer sentiment data for direction. While the Fed’s dovish stance offered some relief midweek, today’s price action suggests broader caution remains firmly in place.

More Information in our Economic Calendar.