IXIC: Nasdaq Composite Dives 3% as Tech Takes Cover Amid New White House Shakedown

Markets are back to falling off cliffs — after a relatively peaceful few sessions, Trump’s stance on chips knocked the tech sector.

💥 White House Noise Is Back

• The Nasdaq Composite index IXIC fell sharply on Wednesday as the relative calm was lifted off the market by another White House act. Just when traders settled down and started to like the quietness, Nvidia found itself in the middle of a geopolitical crossfire between the US and China.
• Shares of the chipmaking giant fell nearly 7% on the day after the company released a report, saying the White House is now requiring export licenses for its H20 chip meant for China and Hong Kong. It also said it stands to take a $5.5 billion hit due to the new rule, effective immediately.

📟 Chipwrecked

• Fear swept Wall Street (and your home battlestation, too?) as traders rushed to sell off their risk assets. Semiconductors were among the biggest losers — AMD AMD fell 7.4% on news its MI308 chips will also fall under an export license. Broadcom AVGO and Micron Technology MU fell 2.4% each.
• The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were showing weakness, too. The broad-based index lost 2.2% while the 30-stock blue-chip benchmark declined 700 points, or 1.7%.

⚠️ Powell Speaks, Markets Listen

• In other news, Federal Reserve chief Jay Powell moved markets late in the afternoon when he spoke at his planned Economic Club of Chicago meeting. “Tariffs are highly likely to generate at least a temporary rise in inflation,” Powell said in prepared remarks. “The inflationary effects could also be more persistent.”
• His words of caution accelerated the selling waves across stocks and also knocked the US dollar, dragging it to a fresh three-year low. The greenback’s index slumped to 99.22 before paring back some of the gains early Thursday. In other (good) news, futures were up by about 1% in pre-market trading today.