US benchmark equity indexes tumbled Wednesday amid a sell-off in Nvidia (NVDA) shares and as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell again flagged potential tariffs-driven inflation headwinds.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite slumped 3.1% to 16,307.2, while the S&P 500 declined 2.2% to 5,275.7. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.7% to 39,669.4. Barring energy, all sectors posted losses, led by a 3.9% plunge in tech.

In company news, Nvidia shares slumped 6.9%, the worst performer on the Dow and among the worst on the S&P 500. The chipmaking giant said late Tuesday that it expects to take up to a $5.5 billion first-quarter charge as the US government requires a license to export H20 integrated circuits to China and "D:5 countries."

UBS Securities said that Russia and other US arms-embargo countries are part of the D5 group. The US government's export restrictions could be "disruptive" to Nvidia's financials, Morgan Stanley said.

Separately, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) said the government's new licensing requirement applies to its MI308 products, and may result in charges of up to $800 million. AMD shares tumbled 7.4%.

Apple (AAPL), Amazon.com (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT) were among the worst performers on the Dow, with other tech stocks Tesla (TSLA), Meta Platforms (META) and Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) also closing lower.

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) affirmed its full-year outlook as the healthcare company reported first-quarter earnings above market expectations. Its shares increased 2.8%, the third highest gain on the S&P 500.

US Treasury yields moved down Wednesday, with the two-year rate falling 4.6 basis points to 3.78% and the 10-year rate losing 3.3 basis points to 4.29%.

Powell reiterated on Wednesday that the impact of US tariffs on inflation may not quickly unwind.

"We may find ourselves in the challenging scenario in which our dual-mandate goals are in tension," Powell said, referring to the Fed's goals of gaining maximum employment and stable prices. "If that were to occur, we would consider how far the economy is from each goal, and the potentially different time horizons over which those respective gaps would be anticipated to close."

China indicated openness to trade negotiations with the US under certain conditions, Yahoo Finance reported. President Donald Trump recently said that China needed to approach the US to make a trade deal. China appointed Li Chenggang as its new trade negotiator, CNBC reported.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil jumped 2.3% to $62.74 a barrel Wednesday. "Oil prices climbed on optimism surrounding China's stance on potential trade talks with the US," D.A. Davidson said.

Global trade volume is expected to decline this year as new tariffs fuel uncertainty, with "severe" downside risks that could deal a bigger blow to cross-border imports and exports, the World Trade Organization said.

Retail sales in the US rose in line with Wall Street's expectations in March led by the motor vehicle component, data from the Census Bureau showed.

"Consumers scrambled to buy cars and trucks ahead of anticipated price increases driven by tariffs," Jefferies said. "The data show good signs of demand across most other categories of goods as well."

US homebuilder confidence unexpectedly picked up in April, though sentiment remained subdued amid heightened economic uncertainty, according to National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo data.

Gold increased 3.5% to $3,354.50 per troy ounce, while silver added 1.4% to $33.07 per ounce.