Wall Street futures fell sharply on Wednesday afternoon (India time), as rising US-China trade tensions and fresh export restrictions on Nvidia chips dragged down investor sentiment, with technology majors Nvidia and ASML leading the decline.
At around 1:30 pm IST, Futures tied to the Nasdaq 100 index were down over 2.3 percent, while S&P 500 futures slipped 1.52 percent. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped 0.82 percent.
The negative sentiment prevailed after Nvidia Corp said it expects a $5.5 billion writedown in the fiscal first quarter due to new US rules that restrict exports of its H20 artificial intelligence chips to China. The US government informed the chipmaker on Monday that the H20 would now require a licence for exports to China “for the indefinite future”, the company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.
The H20 line was specifically designed to comply with earlier US curbs, but the new policy change is set to cost Nvidia billions of dollars and limit access to a critical market.
Nvidia says new limits on China exports to cost $5.5 billion
Netherlands-headquartered chip equipment giant ASML Holding also warned of rising uncertainty in its 2025 and 2026 outlook due to US tariffs.
While the company maintained its annual guidance, its shares fell over 7 percent in early trading. "The recent tariff announcements have increased uncertainty in the macro environment," CEO Christophe Fouquet was quoted as saying by Reuters.
U.S. semiconductor shares also saw contagion after the Trump administration announced chip control. Shares of Micron Technology, AMD and Broadcom Inc also traded flat.
The developments come at a time when trade tensions between Washington and Beijing have intensified. Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research at HDFC Securities, said, "The tariff backdrop remains fluid, and the uncertainty has weighed on financial markets. Nvidia would take $5.5 billion in charges after the US government limited exports of its H20 artificial intelligence chip to China, a key market for one of its most popular chips."
Vakil also pointed out that China has paused purchases and deliveries of Boeing aircraft and parts from the US, further straining trade ties. "Investors are wary that the US government opened new investigations into potential tariffs on pharmaceutical and semiconductor imports, adding another layer of uncertainty for markets already rattled by tit-for-tat trade measures," he added.
European markets also echoed the weak sentiment. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.9 percent after two sessions of gains. Germany’s DAX, France’s CAC 40, and the UK’s FTSE indices slipped between 0.3 percent and 0.8 percent.
In Asia, South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.21 percent, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell over 1 percent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined more than 2 percent.
Back home, the domestic equity benchmark indices also traded in the red, tracking the global selloff as investors remained cautious amid worsening trade relations between the world’s two largest economies.
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