U.S. stock market fell sharply on Wednesday as investors sold AI semiconductor stocks amid geopolitical tensions and persistent inflation concerns.

What happened

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.9%, the Nasdaq Composite slid 2%, and the S&P 500 dropped 1.6%. Major AI semiconductor stocks including Broadcom Inc. and NVIDIA Corp. fell 5.1% and 3.7%, respectively. The VIX fear gauge rose 11.8% to 22.22.

Why it matters

Strong jobs data for May and solid U.S. economic fundamentals have raised concerns that the Federal Reserve is unlikely to cut interest rates soon, while sticky inflation and a spike in U.S. government bond yields suggest the central bank may even raise the Fed fund rate by year-end. Separately, escalation of the U.S.-Iran war in the Middle East also dented investor confidence in risky assets like equities.

What to watch

West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 2.07% to $90.03 a barrel, while Brent crude futures increased 1.8% to $93.10, as investors assess the fallout from Middle East tensions. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 1.87-to-1 ratio and on the Nasdaq by a 1.77-to-1 ratio.