At the close, the broad S&P500 index was unchanged, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.9 percent and the Dow Jones industrial average gained 1.1 percent, setting a new record.
On Wednesday, several chip companies ended in the red, a pattern that was repeated on Thursday - Micron followed up yesterday's decline by losing another 5 percent. Nvidia also lost for the second straight day, falling 1.4 percent.
One thing investors are likely to have factored in is the unexpectedly weak US jobs figures released earlier in the day. They showed that 57,000 new jobs were created outside the US agricultural sector in June, which was significantly lower than analysts' average estimate of 113,000 new jobs.
