U.S. Stock Market "Two Days of Declines," Dow Drops 0.44%, Tesla Falls Over 3%

China Securities Journal, March 20 — U.S. stocks closed lower for the second consecutive trading day.

Wind screenshot

At the close, the Dow fell 0.44% to 46,021.43 points, the S&P 500 declined 0.27% to 6,606.49 points, and the Nasdaq dropped 0.28% to 22,090.69 points.

In terms of sectors, large technology stocks all declined, with the Wind U.S. Tech Giants Index down 0.86%. Among individual stocks, Tesla fell over 3%, Facebook and Nvidia dropped more than 1%, Microsoft declined 0.71%, Amazon fell 0.52%, Apple decreased 0.39%, and Google declined 0.18%.

Energy stocks rose across the board, with ExxonMobil up 0.35%, Chevron gaining over 1%, ConocoPhillips nearly 2%, Schlumberger up over 5%, and Western Oil rising more than 2%.

Most airline stocks increased, with Boeing down over 2%, American Airlines unchanged, Delta up nearly 2%, Southwest Airlines up over 1%, and United Airlines up more than 1%.

Most chip stocks rose, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up 0.87%, Lam Research up over 4%, ON Semiconductor over 2%, Intel over 2%, and Applied Materials over 2%. In the decline, Micron Technology fell over 3%, Microchip Technology dropped more than 2%, and Nvidia declined over 1%.

Gold stocks performed weakly, with AngloGold plunging over 7%, Pan American Silver down more than 6%, El Dorado Gold down over 6%, Harmoni Gold down over 6%, and Barrick Gold dropping more than 5%.

Most Chinese concept stocks declined, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index down 1%, and the Wind China Concept Tech Leaders Index falling 2.39%. Among individual stocks, SunPower fell nearly 27%, Alibaba dropped over 7%, Xinyesh Technology declined nearly 5%, Wanwu Newborn fell nearly 5%, Fog芯科技 down over 4%, Daqo New Energy down more than 4%, Atour rose over 4%, Xpeng Motors increased over 2%, Manbang Group up over 2%, TAL Education up more than 1%, and Yum China rose over 1%.

On macroeconomic data, last week the U.S. initial jobless claims were 205,000, versus an expected 215,000, and the previous figure was 213,000; the four-week moving average was 210,750, revised from 212,000 to 211,500. As of the week ending March 7, the continued claims were 1.857 million, versus an expected 1.85 million, revised from 1.85 million to 1.847 million.

Additionally, ongoing attacks on Middle Eastern energy facilities have raised concerns about potential disruptions to oil supplies, supporting a rise in Brent crude prices. U.S. oil futures closed down 0.91% at $94.59 per barrel, while Brent crude futures rose 0.16% to $103.08 per barrel.

International precious metals futures generally declined, with COMEX gold futures down 4.99% at $4,651.90 per ounce, and COMEX silver futures down 6.16% at $72.81 per ounce. Market analysis indicates that the Fed’s hawkish stance has dispelled expectations of rate cuts, with rising U.S. Treasury yields and a strengthening dollar increasing the holding costs for precious metals. Coupled with risk-averse capital favoring dollar assets and tightening liquidity expectations, these factors jointly suppressed precious metal prices. (China Securities Journal APP)