U.S. stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday as Nvidia warned about steep charges from new U.S. curbs on its chip exports to China and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said U.S. economic growth appears to be slowing.

Market Snapshot

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 699.57 points, or 1.73%, to 39,669.39, the S&P 500 lost 120.93 points, or 2.24%, to 5,275.70 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 516.01 points, or 3.07%, to 16,307.16.

Market Movers

Nvidia - Nvidia dropped 6.9% after disclosing in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that sales of its H20 chips to China would require licenses from the Department of Commerce “for the indefinite future.” Nvidia said it would record charges in its fiscal first quarter of up to $5.5 billion for inventory and canceled sales.

AMD, Broadcom, Micron - Fellow chip makers traded lower. Broadcom and Micron were both down 2.4%, while AMD fell 7.4% on news that the government will require licenses for the export of AMD’s MI308 AI chips. AMD said an initial assessment that a license requirement to export certain products would result in charges of up to $800 million.

ASML - Shares of ASML Holding fell 7.1% after the Dutch semiconductor-equipment maker issued underwhelming sales guidance, saying tariffs have increased uncertainty in its market. For the current second quarter, the company said it expects sales of between €7.2 billion ($.2 billion) and €7.7 billion, below analysts’ forecasts of €7.8 billion.

Tesla - Tesla was down 4.9%. Reuters reported plans by the electric-vehicle maker to ship components from China for Cybercab and Semi electric trucks in the U.S. were suspended after President Donald Trump raised tariffs on Chinese goods.

Hertz - Hertz jumped 56% after CNBC reported that Pershing Square Capital Management had amassed a position of almost 20% in the beleaguered car rental company.

United Airlines - United Airlines reported first-quarter adjusted earnings of 91 cents a share, topping analysts’ estimates of 74 cents, saying it expects resilient profit for the second quarter and full year even though the economic outlook is uncertain. But the airline also issued two full-year outlooks: one for its results if things remain stable and the other for if the U.S. falls into a recession.

United said it planned to reduce domestic capacity by about 4% starting in the third quarter in response to weaker demand. Shares of the carrier were flat.

JB Hunt Transport - J.B. Hunt Transport Services reported first-quarter earnings and revenue that fell from a year earlier, sending shares of the trucking and logistics company down 7.7%. J.B. Hunt said revenue fell to $2.92 billion from $2.94 billion, partly because gross revenue per load in its truckload segment declined from a year earlier.

Travelers - Travelers Cos. was up 1.1%. The insurer reported first-quarter core earnings of $1.91 a share, down from $4.69 a year earlier. Wall Street had expected 79 cents given losses resulting from the California wildfires.

Abbott Laboratories - Abbott Laboratories rose 2.8% after the healthcare company posted first-quarter sales of $10.36 billion, missing Wall Street estimates of $10.41 billion. Adjusted earnings beat forecasts. Growth in nutritional products, medical devices, and established pharmaceuticals partially offset weakness in other segments.

Omnicom - Omnicom fell 7.3%. The marketing, advertising and corporate communications company reported first-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.70 a share, beating estimates of $1.65. Net profit in the quarter fell to $1.45 a share from $1.59 on costs related to Omnicom’s acquisition ofInterpublic, which is expected to close in the second half of the year.

Market News

Powell Says Fed Remains in Wait-and-See Mode; Markets Processing Policy Shifts

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, but cautioned that President Donald Trump's tariff policies risked pushing inflation and employment further from the central bank's goals.

Powell, speaking for the first time since Trump last week paused some of the more stringent of his barrage of tariffs, also characterized the ensuing market volatility of recent weeks as a logical processing of the Trump administration's dramatic shifts in trade policy - not a sign of stress that warranted a Fed response.

"For the time being, we are well positioned to wait for greater clarity before considering any adjustments to our policy stance," Powell said in a speech to the Economic Club of Chicago.

Pre-Tariffs Buying Fuels US Retail Sales, Weakness Lies Ahead

U.S. retail sales increased by the most in more than two years in March as households stepped up purchases of motor vehicles and a range of other goods to avoid higher prices from tariffs, likely barely keeping the economy afloat in the first quarter.

With the stock market selling off and consumer sentiment tanking amid a darkening economic outlook wrought by President Donald Trump'sconstantly changing tariff policy, the robust sales pace reported by the Commerce Department on Wednesday will probably fizzle in the months ahead as consumers hunker down.

Retail sales increased 1.4% last month, the largest gain since January 2023, after an unrevised 0.2% rise in February, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales, which are mostly goods and are not adjusted for inflation, accelerating 1.3%.