Wall Street’s main indices edged lower on Thursday, erasing gains from the previous trading day that was buoyed by the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep rates unchanged.
Among the major indices, the tech-heavy Nasdaq led the drop, losing 0.33 percent. The S&P 500 declined by 0.22 percent, while the Dow Jones dipped by 0.03 percent.
Ten companies, predominantly under the micro- and small-cap sectors also mirrored losses. In this article, we have identified Thursday’s 10 worst performers and detailed the reasons behind their gains.
We classify micro-cap companies as those between $50 million and $300 million in market capitalization and small-cap firms as those between $300 million and $2 billion in market capitalization.
A man in long sleeves looking at stock market data. Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels
10. D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE:QBTS)
D-Wave Quantum fell for a third straight day on Thursday, losing 18.02 percent to end at $8.69 each as investors sold off positions during Nvidia Corp.’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) Quantum Computing day which occurred on the same day.
During the discussion, NVDA CEO Jensen Huang walked back comments he made in January when he cast doubt on the quantum computing industry, saying that he does not expect the sector to be very useful in the next 15 to 30 years. His earlier comments resulted in investors selling off positions in quantum computing stocks.
“This is the first event in history where a company CEO invites all of the guests to explain why he was wrong,” Huang said.
“Of course, quantum computing has the potential and all of our hopes that it will deliver extraordinary impact. But the technology is insanely complicated,” he added.
However, his remarks failed to bolster investing appetite in quantum computing stocks, with firms under the sector remaining in the red on Thursday.
9. Alumis Inc. (NASDAQ:ALMS)
Alumis fell for a second day on Thursday, losing 18.31 percent to end at $3.57 each as investors resorted to profit-taking as investors sold off positions following disappointing earnings performance.
In its latest earnings release, ALMS said its net loss widened by 89.7 percent to $294 million last year from $154.99 million in 2023 as operational loss dived by 90 percent to $300.75 million from $158.17 million.
“Alumis concluded a strong 2024, continuing to establish our late-stage pipeline of next-generation oral TYK2 inhibitors that have the potential to address significant unmet patient needs in immune-mediated diseases around the world,” said ALMS President and CEO Martin Babler.
Over the next 12 to 18 months, ALMS expects to bring major milestones, including topline data from the pivotal Phase 3 program for ESK-001 in moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in the first quarter of 2026, the start of Phase 2 trial of A-005 in multiple sclerosis in the second half of 2025, and expect data from ESK-001’s Phase 2b clinical trial in systemic lupus erythematosus in 2026.
