U.S. stock indexes closed lower on Wednesday as investors digested minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting and awaited results from AI bellwether Nvidia. Nvidia’s NVDA.O report is due after the closing bell. Analysts expect the chipmaker to report a jump in first-quarter revenue, according to LSEG data. The U.S. President backed down over the weekend from his threat of 50% tariffs on imports from the European Union, driving stocks up sharply on Tuesday. Besides Nvidia, Salesforce CRM.N results are due after the closing bell.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 31.59 points, or 0.53%, to end at 5,889.95 points, while the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost 91.27 points, or 0.47%, to 19,107.89. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 237.24 points, or 0.56%, to 42,106.41. Shares of Cadence Design Systems CDNS.O and Synopsys SNPS.O were down sharply after the Financial Times reported that the administration has ordered U.S. firms that offer software used to design semiconductors to stop selling their services to Chinese groups. The FT report cited people familiar with the move.
According to the minutes of the Fed’s May 6-7 session, U.S. central bank officials acknowledged they could face “difficult tradeoffs” in coming months in the form of rising inflation alongside rising unemployment.
The S&P 500 is still down from its record closing high, reached on February 19. It fell as much as 18.9% below that level in the wake of the President’s erratic tariff announcements that have whipsawed markets for much of his second term. A poll of strategists and analysts conducted by Reuters showed that many market participants expected the benchmark index to finish the year near current levels.
Shares of sportswear retailer Dick’s Sporting Goods DKS.N gained after its first-quarter results beat estimates.
Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch. (Additonal reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Kanchana Chakravarty in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and David Gregorio.
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