U.S. tech and banking stocks plunge late at night, gold, silver, and crude oil all rise, and the risk of U.S.-Iran war sharply increases

On the evening of February 27 Beijing time, the three major U.S. stock indices all declined, with each falling more than 1%.

Most large technology stocks fell. As of 10:42 PM, Oracle and Seagate dropped over 4%. The seven tech giants in the U.S. stock market all declined, with Nvidia and Microsoft down over 2%.

Semiconductor stocks collectively declined, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index leading the market lower. Broadcom Semiconductor fell over 5%, and Qualcomm and Bofore dropped over 2%.

Most bank stocks declined. Barclays and Citigroup fell about 4%, Bank of America and Wells Fargo dropped over 4%, JPMorgan Chase and Barclays fell over 3%, and Regions Bank declined nearly 2%.

Several popular stocks hit record prices.

On the downside—

Cloud infrastructure provider CoreWeave fell over 17%, the largest drop since August last year, raising investor concerns over massive capital expenditures.

Duolingo’s stock once dropped 22%, hitting its lowest level since February 2023. The company’s Q1 and full-year booking outlooks were below expectations, leading some institutions to cut their target prices to one-third.

On the upside—

Dell Technologies’ stock surged as much as 18%, the largest intraday gain since April 9, driven by better-than-expected FY2027 revenue guidance.

Netflix rose as much as 12%, its largest increase since January 2025, after exiting the Warner Bros. acquisition battle.

U.S.-based Alipay BLOCK rose nearly 20%, its largest intraday gain since February 2024.

Chinese concept stocks showed mixed performance. The NASDAQ Golden Dragon China Index fell over 1%. Cango and Nengliang Smart Electric dropped about 9%, Sohu Internet declined 7%, and A-Share solar company SunPower and iQiyi fell 6%. On the upside, Kingsoft Cloud rose over 7%, and Tuya Smart gained more than 3%.

The Middle East situation further escalated, causing gold, silver, and international oil prices to surge sharply. Spot silver once rose about 5%, and spot gold surged above $5,230, currently up nearly 1%. WTI crude and ICE Brent crude both rose over 3%.

This year, international oil prices have increased nearly 20%. Senior economist Zhu Runmin of the Petroleum Industry Analysis Center told 21st Century Business Herald that if the U.S. reaches an agreement with Iran and avoids military strikes, oil prices will significantly retreat. However, if future negotiations between the U.S. and Iran collapse and Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz, supply could be severely disrupted, causing oil prices to spike, potentially even surpassing $100 per barrel in extreme cases. (Details)

Cryptocurrencies all declined. As of 10:56 PM, Bitcoin fell 2.5%, Ethereum dropped over 5%, and over 100,000 traders worldwide were liquidated in the past 24 hours.

According to Xinhua News Agency, citing Iran’s Mehr News Agency on the 27th, Brigadier General Shakarchi, spokesperson for Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff, stated that any provocation by the U.S. would be met with a “decisive and destructive” response from Iran’s armed forces.

Xinhua also reported that the U.S. State Department approved the evacuation of non-essential personnel and their families from its Israel mission on the 27th. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides urged Americans to leave Israel “today.” Canada and other countries recently advised their citizens to leave Iran immediately. With the U.S. Navy’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, arriving in Israel on the 27th, analysts believe the risk of U.S.-Iran war has sharply increased.