Nasdaq Drops 1.6% as Tech Earnings Pressure the Market

The stock market fell in a messy day of trading on Thursday as Wall Street was forced to cut through the noise of Big Tech earnings, a U.S.-China trade pact, and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s cautious press conference comments. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.6%. President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping lowered the temperature on trade with an agreement that will delay China’s rare earth controls for a year and bring down U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods to 47%.