The key facts

  • The S&P 500 lost 0.38%, the Nasdaq 0.74%, and the Dow Jones 0.3%
  • Nvidia shares fell 5.53%, with its market capitalization temporarily dropping below $4 trillion
  • US inflation in October was 0.4% versus a forecast of 0.3%; annual data is unavailable due to the government shutdown

US indices closed lower

US stock indices ended Tuesday's session lower: a sell-off in Nvidia shares and stronger-than-expected inflation data heightened investors' concerns about further rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, Anadolu reports. The Dow Jones index fell 157.86 points (0.3%) to 52,231.89, the S&P 500 lost 29.01 points (0.38%) to 7,520.93, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 187.26 points (0.74%) to 25,065.87.

Nvidia and the board investigation

Nvidia shares fell 5.53% to $168.80, and the company's market capitalization temporarily dropped below $4 trillion during the session. Investors were assessing an investigation being conducted by the chipmaker's independent directors: on Tuesday they announced they had retained former federal prosecutor Jun H. Kim and the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to carry out the investigation announced on Sunday.

Inflation above forecasts and the Fed's stance

US consumer prices rose 0.4% in October — more than the expected 0.3%, though slower than the 0.6% in September. Core inflation, excluding food and energy, came in at 0.3% month-over-month versus a forecast of 0.2%. Annual figures for both core and headline inflation were unavailable: the 2025 US government shutdown made it impossible to collect comparable data for October of that year. Before the statistics were released, Fed Governor Christopher Waller said he supports a quarter-point rate hike in December, but believes a half-point increase should be considered if monthly core inflation remains at around 0.3% or higher.

Bond, commodity and European markets

The yield on 10-year US Treasury bonds rose 12.6 basis points to 4.988%, having earlier exceeded 5% during the session. Despite the stock decline, the VIX volatility index fell 1.7% to about 19.60. Gold dropped 2.6% to $4,030.70 per ounce, WTI oil futures fell 0.69% to $86.25 per barrel, and the euro weakened 0.55% against the dollar to $1.116. European bourses closed mostly higher: falling oil prices bolstered hopes for easing inflationary pressure. The Stoxx Europe 600 gained 0.27% to 658.32, Germany's DAX rose 0.31% to 26,347.45, France's CAC 40 added 0.55% to 8,278.59, Italy's FTSE MIB climbed 0.69% to 51,755.08, and Spain's IBEX 35 rose 0.98% to 19,936.40. The UK's FTSE 100 bucked the trend, losing 0.29% and falling to 10,751.59.