New York (AFP) – Global stock indices slid on Tuesday, with tech shares especially weak, after data showed US consumer confidence slumped amid unease over President Trump’s tariff plans. US consumer confidence in February saw its largest monthly decline since August 2021, according to a Conference Board survey that comes on the heels of other lackluster US reports.
“Consumers’ confidence has deteriorated sharply in the face of threats to impose large tariffs and to slash federal spending and employment,” Pantheon Macroeconomics chief US economist Samuel Tombs wrote in a note to clients. The so-called Magnificent Seven stocks, which helped drive US stocks to records at the end of last year, mostly fell Tuesday, weighing especially on the Nasdaq. The worst hit among them was Tesla, which suffered an 8.4 percent drop as investors digested disappointing European sales and chief executive Elon Musk’s aggressive foray into politics.
“The once mighty tech sector in the US is no more,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB. She noted that the best performing sectors in 2025 do not include tech, but rather transport, tobacco, healthcare, and gold. Meanwhile, shares in Nvidia, whose chips are prized for generative AI applications, fell nearly three percent ahead of its releasing quarterly results on Wednesday. Traders will be keenly awaiting its outlook on AI chip sales.
It will be Nvidia’s first earnings release since DeepSeek upended the AI industry at the start of this year by unveiling a high-performing chatbot that it reportedly developed at a fraction of the cost of its Western rivals and with less powerful chips. The US consumer confidence report deepened a recent drop in optimism in Trump’s second month back in office. In recent days, Trump has reiterated his intention to slap import tariffs on key US trading partners Canada and Mexico. Over the weekend, he signed a memo calling for curbs on Chinese investments in industries including technology and critical infrastructure, healthcare, and energy.
Tariffs would likely cause a surge in inflation, slowing growth and reducing the chances of further interest rate cuts. Europe’s main indices finished mixed after having been solidly higher earlier in the session. Asian markets ended lower. Bitcoin fell back below $90,000 as the optimism over expected Trump deregulation for the crypto market ebbed away. The sector has also been hit by the recent $1.5 billion hack of Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, representing the biggest crypto theft in history, as well as a memecoin scandal in Argentina.
– Key figures around 2140 GMT –
New York – Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 43,621.16 (close)
New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.5 percent at 5,955.25 (close)
New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 1.4 percent at 19,026.39 (close)
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 8,668.67 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.5 percent at 8,051.07 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.1 percent at 22,410.27 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.4 percent at 38,237.79 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.3 percent at 23,034.02 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.8 percent at 3,346.04 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0517 from $1.0468 on Monday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2668 from $1.2625
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 149.00 from 149.72 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 83.00 pence from 82.91 pence
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 2.5 percent at $68.93 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 2.4 percent at $73.02 per barrel
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© 2024 AFP
