U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday, signaling an extension of the sharp losses recorded in the past session on concerns about the economic slowdown.
Wall Street’s major indexes fell sharply on Tuesday as U.S. investors returned from the Labor Day holiday after disappointing data on manufacturing activity stirred concerns about the economy’s outlook.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost around 600 points, or 1.5%. The S&P 500 fell 2.1%, its worst day since August, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slumped nearly 3.3%.
Nvidia Continues to Fall
On a historic day, shares of Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) posted their worst one-day drop in history on Tuesday, plunging more than 9% and losing $279 billion in market capitalization.
It was reported during after-hours trading that the DOJ sent subpoenas to Nvidia and other companies, intensifying the investigation into the dominant artificial intelligence computing vendor. Nvidia shares fell 1% in pre-market trading.
Volatility in the market may be palpable as investors await Friday’s vital U.S. jobs report, which is expected to provide related information on the health of the U.S. economy and significantly influence the pace of interest rate tightening by the Federal Reserve.
Ahead of the jobs report, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey will be released and is expected to indicate that the number of available jobs fell in July to 8.090 million.
In June, the figure was down slightly to 8.184 million.
Corporate Profits Continue
In individual stock market movements, shares of Zscaler (ZS) lost about 15% despite suggestions that its estimates could be conservative.
Asana (ASAN) shares fell about 14% after reporting a challenging quarter and announcing a change in its CFO. PagerDuty (PD) also saw its shares fall by nearly 14% after cutting its revenue forecast.
On the positive side, Clover Health Investment Corp (CLOV) shares gained about 6% as its counterparty unit won a contract from the Iowa Clinic, and GitLab (GTLB) shares jumped 18% after solid results and an upgraded forecast.
Market participants are somewhat impatiently awaiting the next U.S. employment report, which is expected to play a key role in the Fed’s decision on whether to implement a 25 basis point rate cut or instead apply a 50 basis point cut on September 18.
