On Thursday, March 19th, stock markets in Europe and the United States closed lower. Major European indices, including those of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, all fell by more than 2%. The session also saw widespread declines in gold and large-cap technology stocks.

The three major U.S. stock indices closed lower for a second consecutive day, although they recovered significantly from their intraday lows. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.44%, the S&P 500 declined 0.27%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.28%, with all three indices closing at their lowest levels since November of the previous year. During the trading session, the Nasdaq had dropped nearly 1.4%, touching a low of 21,851.05 points, its lowest level since last September. The Dow and S&P 500 also experienced declines exceeding 1% at their lows.

Large-cap technology stocks collectively declined, with the relevant index tracking seven major U.S. tech giants falling 0.86%. Among individual stocks, Tesla dropped over 3%, while Meta Platforms and NVIDIA both fell more than 1%.

Chip stocks mostly advanced, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rising 0.87%. Lam Research gained over 4%, Advanced Micro Devices rose more than 2%, Intel increased over 2%, and Applied Materials advanced more than 2%. On the downside, Micron Technology fell over 3%, Microchip Technology declined more than 2%, and NVIDIA was down over 1%.

Storage-related stocks showed strength. Seagate Technology PLC surged 6.84%, and Western Digital climbed 3.95%. Meanwhile, Micron Technology fell 3.78% despite reporting a significant revenue increase, as its substantial expenditure plans raised concerns among investors.

Gold mining stocks moved lower. Newmont Corporation dropped 6.89%, Harmony Gold declined 6.25%, and Caledonia Mining fell 5.14%. This movement followed a dip in spot gold, which briefly fell to the $4,500 per ounce level, hitting a new six-week low.

Regarding U.S.-listed Chinese companies, the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index declined 1%. Most popular Chinese stocks trended lower. Canadian Solar plunged nearly 27%, Alibaba fell over 7%, and Pinduoduo dropped 3.27%. In contrast, Atour Lifestyle Holdings gained 4.11%, and XPeng advanced 2.02%.

In the precious metals market, following volatile trading, gold and silver opened higher in early Asian trading on March 20th but then experienced a sharp drop. As of 6:47 AM Beijing Time, spot gold was down 0.05% at $4,648.057 per ounce, while spot silver had fallen 0.55%.

International oil prices also declined. At the time of writing, West Texas Intermediate crude was down 1.58% at $94.03 per barrel. This followed the previous session's close, where WTI crude had edged down 0.19% to settle at $96.14 per barrel, while Brent crude had risen 1.18% to close at $108.65 per barrel.

Amidst concerns over Middle East tensions, the Federal Reserve finds itself in a challenging position. The Fed recently announced it would maintain the federal funds rate target range between 3.5% and 3.75%, a decision that aligned with market expectations. The closely watched "dot plot" indicated that officials generally anticipate one interest rate cut this year and another in 2027, though the exact timing remains uncertain. Market pricing, however, suggests a roughly 60% probability that the Fed will either not cut rates at all or even hike once this year. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, the most likely scenario is no rate cut in 2024, with a probability of 56.1%, and there is even a 3.6% probability of one rate hike.