By Lawrence Delevingne and Harry Robertson
BOSTON/LONDON (Reuters) -Global shares fell sharply on Wednesday as U.S. restrictions on chip sales to China and continued tariff uncertainty battered tech stocks, while gold traded at record highs and support for the dollar continued to erode.
Washington issued new export licensing requirements for sales to China of Nvidia’s H20 and AMD’s MI308 artificial intelligence chips. Nvidia said the move would cost it $5.5 billion and its shares slumped nearly 7%.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe fell about 1.5%.
“Capital markets remain caught between news about new tariffs and, on the other hand, about tariff negotiations or suspensions,” Paul Christopher, a strategist with the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, wrote in a note on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.7%, the S&P 500 dropped 2.2%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slumped 3.1%.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday the Fed would wait for more data on the economy’s direction before changing interest rates, and characterized recent market volatility as a logical processing of the Trump administration’s dramatic shifts in tariff policy.
“Powell is doing what the rest of us are doing – waiting and watching,” Jamie Cox, managing partner for Harris Financial Group, said in an email. “The Federal Reserve won’t act unless and until either the labor market turns or there is a systemic risk, such as a breakdown in the payment system.”
Data on Wednesday showed that U.S. retail sales surged in March as households boosted purchases of motor vehicles ahead of tariffs, though concerns about the economic outlook are hurting discretionary spending.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered a probe into potential new tariffs on all imports of critical minerals, on top of reviews into pharmaceutical and chip imports. Beijing is continuing to play hardball, having reportedly ordered airlines to suspend deliveries of Boeing aircraft.
EUROPE, ASIA SHARES ALSO LOWER
European stocks fell, with the STOXX 600 index down…
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