4:05pm: Tech stocks lead losses
The Nasdaq closed 1.7% lower on Tuesday at 15,939 points as investors pulled back on tech stocks, specifically Apple and Tesla.
The Dow Jones and S&P 500 both finished the day 1% lower at 38,585 and 5,078 points respectively.
After hitting a new record high near $69,000 earlier today, Bitcoin finished the day almost 8% lower at about $62,385.
Gold, on the other hand, was up 0.6% at $2,138 per ounce.
11:22am: China concerns front of mind
Some commentary on the market movements today, which attributes worries about China to some of the jitters being experienced by investors on Tuesday.
After almost two hours of trading the Nasdaq index is down 26 points or 1.6% at 15,946.39, while the S&P 500 has slipped 0.85% to 5,088 and the Dow Jones 0.7% to 38,742.
Market analyst Axel Rudolph at IG said the rally in both gold and bitcoin kicked off last week when Fed Governor Waller talked of a strategy shift towards reducing central bank's mortgage-backed securities holdings to zero, gathered momentum as investors bought gold and US-listed Bitcoin ETFs.
China worries have also led to the surge in gold purchases, he said.
"The National People's Congress of China's growth target for 2024 of 5% and the decision to increase defence spending by 7.2%, the same amount as last year despite its economic woes, while leaving a 'peaceful reunification' reference to Taiwan out of its communication, led to flight-to-safety purchases of gold," Rudolph said.
The Chinese yuan, US dollar and oil price were little changed on the day.
10.29am: Wall Street beats sharp retreat
US stocks opened in the red for the second day, with tech stocks crashing lower as gold and bitcoin reached new all-time highs.
Economic data on the services sector and factory orders both fell more than expected, while Federal Reserve plans and China risks were also on investors' minds.
The Nasdaq led the Wall Street retreat, as expected, losing 175 points in early trading, with all of the 'Magnificent 7' tech megacaps sliding lower, led by Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA, ETR:TL0) for the second day.
Looking at the largest stocks on the tech-dominated index, Microsoft was down 29%, Apple 2.7%, Nvidia 1.2%. Alphabet 1.8%, Meta Platforms 1.7%, Broadcom 2.9% Tesla 4.8% and ASML 2.4%.
US factory orders fell 3.6% in January, versus a forecast 2.9% decline, while the ISM services purchasing managers' index (PMI) dropped to 52.6 from 53.4, worse than the 53 consensus estimate.
7.29am: Stocks called lower at open
The Nasdaq is expected to lead US markets lower on Tuesday’s opening bell, as investors remain focussed on a score of economic news this week.
Futures had the Nasdaq down 111 points at 18,150 pre-market, while the Dow Jones and S&P 500 sat 52 points and 15 points off at 38,970 and 5,123 respectively.
Reports of China’s “ambitious” 5% GDP growth target for the year overnight already underwhelmed the market on Tuesday, XTB analyst Kathleen Brooks noted.
Coupled with “key event risk this week,” Brooks added equity markets were “jittery” on Tuesday.
Tuesday’s key data includes the release of factory orders and the ISM services PMI for February, after the figure hit an 11-month high of 64 in January.
“Services sector inflation remains a thorn in the side of the Fed, and thus traders should keep a particular eye out for the ISM services prices metric,” Scope Markets’ Joshua Mahony commented.
Later in the week brings an interest rate call in Europe, a budget in the UK and jobs data in the US, meanwhile, as Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell offers a congressional testimony between Wednesday and Thursday, with markets awaiting any clues on when base rate cuts may come.
Among equities, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL, ETR:APC) fell over 2% in pre-market trading, as a hefty fine in Europe was then followed by news that its iPhone had been overtaken as China’s bestseller, also prompting tech firms Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO, ETR:1YD), Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) and Qualcomm Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM, ETR:QCI) to fall.