1.27pm: Stocks fall further into red as Nvidia plummets
Wall Street continued to face pressure into Monday afternoon as Nvidia Corp emerged among the day's biggest fallers.
The Nasdaq dropped 1.2%, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones slipped 0.8% and 0.7% respectively.
Heavyweight Nvidia weighed on each, as the chip-making giant tumbled 7.3% following reports its chips were getting to China via smuggling.
Chinese traders were said to be selling systems housing Nvidia’s Blackwell chips by sourcing the products through third parties in nearby regions, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Such moves would violate US export rules, with the report also noting some sellers were promising six-week delivery times to buyers.
Following the report, news emerged that Singapore was probing Nvidia customers Dell and Super Micro Computer for potential US export control violations... Read more
11.52am: Manufacturing growth ‘noticeably’ up but tariff fears hang - S&P
US manufacturing sector growth “noticeably” picked up in February as output and new work strengthened, data on Monday showed.
According to S&P Global, the US Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose from 51.2 to 52.7 between January and February.
This left the figure at its highest since June 2022 and marked the second consecutive monthly improvement.
Advanced purchases likely buoyed growth ahead of anticipated price increases and supply disruption on the back of Donald Trump’s tariffs though, S&P warned.
Inflation across the sector also hit a two-year high as supplier appeared to already be adjusting prices upwards to shield against the impact of tariffs.
“There’s much to suggest that this improvement could be short lived,” S&P economist Chris Williamson commented.
“Worries have noticeably swelled in relation to the inflationary impact of tariffs.
“Higher costs are being passed on to customers [...] which manufacturers fear may in turn not only damage sales in the coming months but also encourage the Fed to take a more hawkish view of inflation.”
Stocks remained under pressure, with the Nasdaq off 0.4%, the Dow Jones down 0.3% and S&P 500 0.2% lower.
10am: Stocks start higher but quickly fall
US stocks opened higher but things quickly turned sour to begin March trading on a bum note.
The S&P 500 is down 0.3% and the Nasdaq is down 0.8%, while the Dow Jones is just above flat.
A 3.8% fall for Nvidia was weighing on the former pair, with Apple, Microsoft and Amazon also in the red as the 'Magnificent 7' tech giants began the month how much of the last one went.
7.55am:
US stock indexes are tipped to head higher on the first trading day of March, led by the tech-powered Nasdaq.
S&P 500 futures pointed to a 0.5% rise, with Nasdaq 100 futures rising 0.7% and those for the Dow Jones up 0.35%.
Cryptocurrencies were also on the front foot on Monday, with bitcoin up 8.3% and Ethereum 6.6% over the past 24 hours, with XRP, Solana and Cardano surging too.
This big move was triggered after President Trump announced an executive order to create a Crypto Strategic Reserve.
Announcing the order on his Truth Social social media platform, Trump said the Executive Order on Digital Assets directed the Presidential Working Group will "move forward on a Crypto Strategic Reserve that includes XRP, SOL, and ADA" as well as bitcoin and ethereum.
Last week, Wall Street closed out February on a strong note after a day of dramatic swings in trader sentiment amid PCE inflation data and tension in the White House.
The S&P and Nasdaq Composite fell over the week and the month, led by the Magnificent 7 tech giants dropping 8.7% in what was their largest monthly decline since December 2022.
The past month saw the S&P 500 reach an all-time high on February 19, but a more risk-off tone took hold as tariff threats were reinforced and several US economic data points were weaker than hoped.
While sentiment on the Street improved sharply on Friday and looked solid ahead of the first session of the week, market analyst Susannah Streeter at Hargreaves Lansdown said concerns about an increasingly sluggish US economy, the impact of tariffs on inflation and falling consumer confidence "may well come back to bite".
"At the moment, there appears hope that there could be another delay to tariffs on US neighbours, but Trump seems determined to punish them for various ‘unfair’ transgressions, so any last-minute reprieve looks likely to be temporary."
Kenny Polcari at Slatestone Wealth said the PCE inflation data on Friday – the Federal Reserve's favored inflation gauge – showed that inflation moderated in January and caused markets to price in two interest rate cuts this year, with a cut previously predicted for September cut now expected to happen in June.
Tariffs on Mexico and Canada are supposed to take place tomorrow, but Polcari says "markets are split on this – as there is no clear consensus on the odds of them going into effect – but I think the markets have priced them in, so if we don’t get them, you can expect stocks to rally".
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested that the precise tariffs to be levied against Mexico and Canada weren’t set in stone, whereas the additional 10% on China was.
Then Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that Mexico has offered to match US tariffs on China and urged Canada to do the same to create "Fortress North America" against Chinese imports.
Economic data to watch this week includes the US ISM surveys on Monday and Wednesday, while the non-farn payrolls report on Friday is expected to show a modest pickup in the labour market.