Wall Street tech stocks tumble amid inflation worries

U.S. equity indices fell for a second consecutive day as the technology sector, especially chip makers, came under pressure. The Dow Jones slipped 0.09% to 51,665, the S&P 500 fell 1.44% to 7,365, and the Nasdaq dropped 2.21% to 25,587. Shares of Nvidia fell more than 4%, while Intel, Marvell, AMD, Micron and SanDisk each lost between 5.8% and 13%.

Investors cited rising U.S. inflation – up 0.4% month‑on‑month and 4.1% year‑on‑year, the highest in three years – and the possibility that the Federal Reserve could raise rates twice this year, potentially by as much as 0.50 percentage points. The data dampened expectations for further rate cuts and heightened caution across markets.

Asian exchanges opened cautiously on Wednesday, with modest gains in the MSCI Asia‑Pacific index offset by declines in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Japanese stocks ranging from 0.1% to 1%. Gains were seen in Australia, India and South Korea, reflecting mixed regional reactions to the U.S. sell‑off.