[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks resumed their downward slide on Tuesday as worries over the Ukraine and Middle East conflicts added to unease over President Trump’s aggressive trade agenda.
Trump’s talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to yield a ceasefire, prompting Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to pledge continued fighting in Russia’s Kursk region.
Meanwhile, Israel resumed bombing Gaza in the deadliest attack since a ceasefire came into effect on Jan 19.
Major indices spent the entire session in the red on the first day of a two-day Federal Reserve meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.6 per cent at 41,581.31.
The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 1.1 per cent to 5,614.66, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slid 1.7 per cent to 17,504.12.
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Stocks had risen the last two days in a partial rebound from declines in recent weeks as mixed economic data and uncertainty about the Trump administration’s trade policies spark talk of a recession.
“The news of what’s going on politically, it’s still very uncertain,” said Tom Cahill of Ventura Wealth Management. “I don’t think there’s any new news so far this week that should make the market feel more encouraged.”
Besides uncertainty over the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, Cahill also pointed to unease over an April 2 deadline when the Trump administration is expected to announce a fresh litany of tariffs.
Among individual companies, Nvidia fell 3.2 per cent as chief executive Jensen Huang showcased cutting-edge chips for artificial intelligence at the company’s annual developers conference.
Google parent Alphabet fell 2.4 per cent after the tech giant announced it will acquire cloud security platform Wiz for US$32 billion, as it seeks to beef up its cloud computing business for the AI era.
The Fed on Wednesday is expected to maintain current interest rates, but the central bank’s commentary will be scrutinised for its views on growth and inflation. AFP
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