Wall Street began the day on a weak note on Tuesday with benchmark indices plunging in red. The stocks came under heavy pressure as the broad sell-off in technology shares deepened, with the Nasdaq Composite falling more than 2% in early trading and futures signalling further declines ahead of the opening bell.Around 7:30 pm IST, US stock markets were lower in early trade, with major indices slipping across the board. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 197.69 points, or 0.38%, to 51,515.02. The Nasdaq Composite declined 365.57 points, or 1.40%, to 25,801.03, leading losses among the major benchmarks.The S&P 500 dropped 76.49 points, or 1.02%, to 7,396.30, reflecting broad-based weakness in equities.The DJ Total Stock Market Index also fell 733.07 points, or 0.99%, to 73,385.98, signalling a wider decline across the US equity market.IT stocks like Alphabet, Nvidia, Oracle and Tesla all opened sharply lower, extending losses seen in big tech during the previous session. Chipmaker Micron Technology dropped more than 11%, while Intel was down over 7% in overnight trading. Qualcomm fell 6.3%, and memory and storage firms were also hit, with Sandisk sliding nearly 9% and Seagate down 7.2%.The weakness in US markets followed a global downturn that began in Asia. South Korea’s Kospi tumbled 10% to 8,203.84, dragged down by semiconductor stocks such as Samsung Electronics and concerns over regulatory scrutiny in the sector. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 3.6% to 69,788.38, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.3% to 8,787.00.European markets also moved lower at midday, with France’s CAC 40 down 0.6%, Germany’s DAX falling 1%, and Britain’s FTSE 100 slipping 0.5%.The ongoing sell-off has been driven by growing concern over heavy spending in artificial intelligence and the increasing likelihood of interest rate hikes in the United States, which could slow growth and raise borrowing costs. Traders are now pricing in nearly a 90% chance of at least one rate hike by the end of the year, up from 57% a week earlier, according to CME Group data.Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which owns xAI, also extended losses, slipping another 1% before the bell after a 16.4% fall earlier in the week. The stock, which has been trading on the Nasdaq, was just above $156 per share, down from highs above $200 last week, though still above its market debut level.Meanwhile, the bond markets also reflected uncertainty, with the yield on the 10-year US treasury settling around 4.49%, compared with 4.43% a week earlier and 3.97% before the Iran war. Economists expect US consumer inflation data due on Thursday to show an increase to 4.1% in May from 3.8% in April.On the commodity front, oil prices were largely steady to slightly lower, with US crude at $73.77 a barrel and Brent crude at $77.71, trading below $78. The move followed the US decision on Monday to waive longstanding sanctions on Iranian oil sales for two months, signalling progress in talks between Washington and Tehran.The broader weakness in equities comes as the recent artificial intelligence-led rally reverses, with investors reassessing valuations amid higher rate expectations and concerns about the impact of tighter monetary policy on global growth.
