Dow Jones plunges over 500 points late at night, U.S. stocks' semiconductor sector declines, NVIDIA drops over 4%, international oil prices surge 3%, Trump is dissatisfied with progress in Iran nuclear talks

On Friday, February 27, the three major U.S. stock indexes all closed lower: the Dow down 1.05%, the S&P 500 down 0.43%, and the Nasdaq down 0.92%.

Most large tech stocks declined, with Nvidia dropping over 4% after a 5% plunge yesterday. Analysts are increasingly concerned about Nvidia’s reliance on a few large data center operators known as “super-scale cloud service providers,” as well as AI startups like OpenAI. Visible Alpha research head Melissa Otto said Nvidia faces “many concerns,” including how its large tech clients and startups will fund the hundreds of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure spending. (See details). Additionally, Apple fell more than 3%, Microsoft dropped over 2%, Tesla and Facebook declined more than 1%, while Google and Amazon rose about 1%.

Chip stocks mostly declined, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down 1.21%. NXP Semiconductors fell over 2%, Qualcomm dropped more than 2%, AMD declined over 1%, ARM fell over 1%, and Micron Technology decreased nearly 1%.

Bank stocks were weak, with JPMorgan down over 2%, Goldman Sachs dropping more than 7%, Citigroup falling over 5%, Morgan Stanley down over 6%, Bank of America down more than 4%, and Wells Fargo declining over 5%.

Energy stocks mostly rose, with ExxonMobil up over 2%, Chevron up more than 1%, ConocoPhillips up over 2%, and Occidental Petroleum up over 3%.

Most Chinese concept stocks declined, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index down 1.81%. SunPower fell over 11%, iQiyi dropped more than 6%, China Internet Plus Internet declined over 5%, NIO fell over 4%, and Alibaba declined more than 2%.

In commodities, gold, silver, and oil prices all rose. Spot gold surged nearly 2% to $5,278.3 per ounce, spot silver increased over 6% to $93.7 per ounce. In February, spot gold has gained a total of 7.84%, and COMEX gold futures have risen 11.27%. Spot silver has increased 10.11%, with COMEX silver futures up 19.28%.

Both US crude oil and Brent crude oil rose over 3%. Geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and Iran have driven up oil prices, while OPEC+ continues to implement a pause on production increases. If future talks between the U.S. and Iran break down and Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz, supply could be severely disrupted, potentially causing oil prices to spike above $100 per barrel in extreme cases. (See details).

In cryptocurrencies, major coins all declined, with Bitcoin falling to $65,000 per coin. Over the past 24 hours, more than 90,000 traders were liquidated.

According to Xinhua News Agency, U.S. President Trump on the 27th said he is “not satisfied” with the current progress of Iran nuclear negotiations but has not made a final decision on military action against Iran. He told reporters leaving the White House that Iran is unwilling to give the U.S. “what they deserve” in negotiations, and he is “very dissatisfied.” Trump said the U.S. has not yet made a final decision on whether to launch a military strike on Iran and will observe “what happens after further negotiations.” He also stated he does not want to use force, “but sometimes it’s necessary.” He reiterated that Iran must not possess nuclear weapons.

According to CCTV News, as tensions continue, multiple countries have issued security alerts. The Chinese Embassy in Iran and the Israeli Embassy issued statements warning Chinese citizens to stay alert to changing security conditions. The U.S. State Department updated travel advisories on the 27th for Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, maintaining a Level 3 “Reconsider Travel” alert and authorizing non-emergency U.S. government personnel and their families to evacuate Israel. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Hockabee said that if Americans want to leave Israel, they should “leave today.”

The UK government on the 27th said that, due to security concerns, they are temporarily withdrawing embassy staff from Iran. The Canadian government on the 26th urged Canadian citizens to immediately evacuate Iran amid ongoing regional tensions. Greece, France, Poland, Kazakhstan, Cyprus, and other countries issued warnings on the 27th advising their citizens to avoid travel to Iran, Israel, and other Middle Eastern regions. The Netherlands also raised travel warnings to the highest level for parts of the Middle East. Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson Duvlin stated on the 27th that the IDF is closely monitoring Iran’s situation, maintaining high alert, and is prepared to protect the safety of the public.