Most stock markets around the world fell on Wednesday. This happened because the US put stricter rules on selling advanced computer chips, which are used for artificial intelligence, to other countries. Companies like Nvidia, which make these chips, were badly affected.

The S&P 500 stock index is expected to go down by 1.2%, and the Dow Jones index is expected to go down by 0.6%.

Shares of the chip company Nvidia went down by 6.3% after the stock market closed. This was because the U.S. government put stronger limits on sending out one of their computer chips used for artificial intelligence. Shares of AMD, another chip company, also went down by 7.1% after the U.S. market closed.

Worries about a trade war started again when the Trump government announced they would investigate importing important minerals like rare earths. These minerals are used in products such as smartphones, electric cars, and many other things.

In early trading in Europe, the main stock market in Britain, the FTSE 100, went down by 0.2% to 8,233.10. This was after the government announced that prices in the UK went down for the second month in March. This was mostly because gas prices were lower.

In Germany, the DAX index dropped by 0.7% to 21,107.68, and in Paris, the CAC 40 index also went down by 0.6% to 7,289.67.

Chinese stocks dropped more than others in the area after China said its economy, the second biggest in the world, grew by a good 5.4% each year in the last three months of 2024. This growth was helped by strong factories, shops, and sales to other countries. But, if we look at the growth only from January to March, it was slower, at 1.2%, compared to 1.6% in the last three months of 2024.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell by 2% to 20,922.54. However, the Shanghai Composite index rose slightly by 0.1% to 3,271.19.

Economists who work for private companies have lowered their predictions. This is because President Donald Trump recently raised taxes on most goods from China to 145%, and China also raised its taxes on goods from the U.S. to 125%.

Experts at ANZ Research said that business is already slowing down this quarter.

Raymond Yeung and other researchers from ANZ wrote in a report that they think the problems with new tariffs are caused more by the lack of certainty than by the tariffs themselves. They also said that President Trump's announcements have had a bad effect on how businesses feel and what they do.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index fell by 1% to 33,920.40. This happened mainly because of big technology companies. For instance, Advantest, which makes equipment for testing chips, had its shares drop by 6.6%. Also, Disco Corp.'s shares went down a lot, by 8%.

The stock market in South Korea, called the Kospi, went down by 1.2% to 2,447.43. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 also dropped a little, by less than 0.1%, to 7,758.90.

India's stock market, the Sensex, showed little movement, and Bangkok's stock market, the SET, fell slightly by 0.1%.

On Tuesday, U.S. stock prices moved slightly. The S&P 500 went down 0.2% and the Dow fell 0.4%. The Nasdaq composite also went down a very small amount, less than 0.1%.

Because of uncertainty about President Donald Trump's taxes on imports, investors waited to see what would happen next.

The U.S. bond market seemed to calm down after its sudden and big changes last week made people less sure that U.S. government bonds were a safe place to put their money when there were risks.

The interest rate on 10-year government bonds stayed at 4.33%. This was lower than 4.38% on Monday evening and 4.48% at the end of last week. A week before, it was only 4.01%. Interest rates often fall when investors are worried, so the changes this week have made people feel more confident.

The value of the U.S. dollar also became stable after falling last week. This made people more worried that Trump's trade disagreements could be making it a less safe investment.

Palantir Technologies' shares went up by 6.2% for the second day. This happened after NATO said they would use the company's AI technology in their military work.

Early on Wednesday, the price of US oil went down by 69 cents to $60.64 a barrel. At the same time, Brent crude, which is the main international type of oil, dropped by 65 cents to $64.01 a barrel.

Because of Trump's tariffs, people expect economies to grow more slowly, which will reduce the need for oil and other materials.

The value of the U.S. dollar went down against the Japanese yen, changing from 143.24 yen to 142.26 yen. The value of the euro went up against the dollar, changing from $1.1283 to $1.1377.