Wall Street is poised to open with more losses Tuesday as artificial-intelligence -related shares continued to drag markets lower.
Futures for the S&P 500 fell 0.6%, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.7%. Nasdaq futures also tumbled 0.7%.
Nvidia, at the center of the craze over AI, slid another 1.1% ahead of its earnings report on Wednesday. It fell 1.9% on Monday and this month alone the AI juggernaut’s shares are down 8.6%.
Most other chipmakers also retreated early Tuesday, with Micron, Intel and Qualcomm all shedding between 1% and 2%.
Microsoft fell 1.5% and Amazon lost 1.8%.
Worries that stock prices have shot too high have roiled world markets recently, with big swings in places that rely heavily on exports of computer chips.
In the retail sector, Home Depot slid 3.1% after the home improvement chain reported profit that fell short of Wall Street targets. Home Depot blamed its mixed results on fewer violent storms reaching shore, more anxiety among U.S. consumers and an ongoing slump in the housing market.
Home Depot also lowered its fiscal 2025 adjusted earnings forecast, but raised its expectations for sales growth.
There are more major retailers reporting quarterly earns ahead. Target and Lowe’s will post earns on Wednesday and Walmart and Gap on Thursday.
Also looming over the markets is the expected release Thursday of U.S. employment data that was delayed by the prolonged government shutdown.
In Europe, Germany's DAX, the CAC 40 in Paris and Britain's FTSE 100 all declined 1.4% by midday Tuesday.
Asian markets felt a chill after the yield on 30-year Japanese government bonds surged to 3.31%, reflecting rising risks as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi prepares to boost government spending and push back the timetable for bringing down Japan's huge national debt.
The yen was trading above 155 to the U.S. dollar, near its highest level since February. Early Tuesday, the dollar was at 155.36 Japanese yen, up slightly from 155.26 yen.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 dropped 3.2% to 48,702.98, with selling of tech shares leading the decline. Chip maker Tokyo Electron shed 5.5%, while equipment maker Advantest dropped 3.7%.
In Seoul, the Kospi fell 3.3% to 3,953.62. Samsung Electronics dropped 2.8%, while chip maker SK Hynix shed 5.9%.
In Taiwan, the Taiex fell 2.5% as TSMC, the world's largest contract chip manufacturer, declined 2.8%.
Chinese markets were not immune from heavy selling.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 1.7% to 25,930.03, while the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.8% to 3,939.81.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gave up 1.9% to 8,469.10.
Other areas of the market that had been high-momentum winners also sank. Bitcoin extended its decline, falling another 1% to around $91,360, near its lowest level since April.
Gold is down less than 1% to $4,039 an ounce.
Critics have been warning that the U.S. stock market could be primed for a drop because of how high prices have shot since April, leaving them looking too expensive.
Another source of potential disappointment for Wall Street is what the Federal Reserve does with interest rates. The expectation had been that the Fed would keep cutting interest rates in hopes of shoring up the slowing job market.
But the downside of lower interest rates is that they can make inflation worse, and inflation has stubbornly remained above the Fed’s 2% target.
Fed officials have also pointed to the U.S. government’s shutdown, which delayed the release of updates on the job market and other signals about the economy. With less information and less certainty about how things are going, some Fed officials have suggested it may be better to wait in December to get more clarity.
A strong jobs report on Thursday would likely stay the Fed’s hand on rate cuts, while figures that are very weak would raise worries about the economy.
In energy markets, U.S. benchmark crude oil was stable at just under $60 per barrel.
