LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Wall Street gave up its early positive start to trading following a report that the US administration might announce tariffs on the car sector specifically on the same day.
The report from Bloomberg cited people familiar with the matter, but added that the scale of any levies remained unknown and that the plans were not yet final.

As of 1704 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrials was slipping 0.21% to 42,499.43, alongside a 1.01% decline for the S&P 500 to 5,717.88.

The Nasdaq Composite meanwhile was off by 1.88% at 17,927.31.

"The more positive tone for US markets was not likely to last, and tariff reports and chip worries have driven Wall Street firmly into the red," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.

"Measures in China designed to improve energy efficiency for data centres seem squarely aimed at Nvidia, and the news has dragged the stock, and tech stocks generally, sharply lower. It has lost its most-valuable company crown to Microsoft, continuing the pain for shareholders"

As an aside, in remarks to Sharecast, one US-based broker noted that recent gains on Wall Street had been led by retail buyers whilst the 'smart money' had remained net sellers.

There was however some good economic news to be had on Wednesday.

The Department of Commerce reported that durable goods orders shot 0.9% higher month-on-month in February, thanks to a 4.0% rebound in those for motor vehicles and parts.

Elsewhere, in an interview with the Financial Times, Chicago Fed boss, Austan Goolsbee, said that signs that US bonds were discounting higher inflation would constitute a "major red flag".

In the background, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was edging up by three basis points to 4.353%.

Strategists at Barclays slashed their year-end 2025 target for the S&P 500 from 6,600 to 5,900 due to the uncertainty surrounding the US administration's tariff policies.

Dow Jones - Risers

Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $165.88 1.86%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $312.43 1.80%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $69.74 1.35%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $44.08 1.35%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $262.52 1.18%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $167.62 1.01%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $517.81 0.85%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $251.99 0.83%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $35.60 0.79%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $61.33 0.57%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Intel Corp. (INTC) $23.48 -2.98%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $282.26 -2.20%
Boeing Co. (BA) $179.51 -1.69%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $65.47 -1.60%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $577.32 -1.47%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $100.85 -0.75%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $392.59 -0.65%
3M Co. (MMM) $153.09 -0.27%
American Express Co. (AXP) $278.70 -0.21%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $223.52 -0.10%

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