The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed sharply lower on Tuesday, dragged down by sharp losses in semiconductor stocks as investors scrutinized growing debt financing for artificial intelligence and braced for a more hawkish U.S. Federal Reserve. The Dow and Toronto Stock Exchange ended slightly lower. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index tumbled 7.9 per cent and the S&P 500 information technology sector index slipped 3.7 per cent. Nvidia dropped 4.1 per cent and Alphabet fell 1 per cent while chipmakers Intel, Marvell Technology and Advanced Micro Devices lost between 5.8 per cent and 9.4 per cent. Elon Musk's SpaceX, which debuted this month, has joined a list of megacaps tapping the bond market to raise capital. Shares of SpaceX rose 1 per cent, following losses in the past three sessions. Memory chipmakers Micron and SanDisk both fell around 13 per cent. Micron's earnings on Wednesday could offer clues on the outlook for the memory and AI chip sector after a searing rally this year. The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down 74.8 points at 34,927.38. Consumer staples jumped 4.1 per cent. Couche-Tard shares were up 11.7 per cent on fourth-quarter results.