Stock markets around the world went down on Wednesday. This happened because the US put new rules on selling advanced computer chips for AI, which affected big technology companies like Nvidia.

The S&P 500 fell by 1.2%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 0.6%.

The shares of the chip company Nvidia went down by 6.3% after the market closed. This happened because the U.S. put stricter rules on sending out a special computer chip used for artificial intelligence. The shares of another chip company, AMD, also went down by 7.1% after the U.S. markets closed.

Concerns about a trade war came back when the Trump administration announced they would investigate importing important minerals like rare earths. These minerals are used in things like smartphones and electric cars.

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

In Germany, the DAX stock market index fell by 0.7% to 21,107.68 points. At the same time, in Paris, the CAC 40 index also dropped by 0.6% to 7,289.67 points.

Stock markets in China fell the most in the region after the Chinese government said the country's economy grew well, at 5.4% over the past year. This growth was helped by strong results in industry, sales in shops, and selling goods to other countries. But, when compared to the three months before, growth was slower, at 1.2% from January to March, compared to 1.6% at the end of 2024.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index went down by 2% to 20,922.54. However, the Shanghai Composite index went up a little by 0.1% to 3,271.19, getting back some of what it lost.

Economists in private companies have lowered their predictions because President Trump recently increased taxes on most imports from China to 145%, and China also increased its taxes on imports from the U.S. to 125%.

Experts at ANZ Research said that economic activity is already getting weaker this quarter.

Raymond Yeung and other researchers from ANZ said, "We think the sudden rise in tariffs is because of the uncertainty it creates, not just the tariff itself." They added, "President Trump's announcements have changed how businesses feel and what they do."

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

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

India's Sensex index stayed almost the same, while Thailand's SET index went down a little, by 0.1%.

On Tuesday, US stocks changed slightly. The S&P 500 went down by 0.2%, the Dow went down by 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite went down by less than 0.1%.

Because people weren't sure about President Donald Trump's tariffs, investors waited to see what would happen.

The U.S. bond market seemed calmer after last week's sudden and big changes. These changes made people less confident that U.S. government bonds are a safe investment when there are risks.

The return on the 10-year government bond 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%. Returns often go down when investors are worried, so the changes this week have been encouraging.

The value of the U.S. dollar became more stable after falling quickly last week. This has caused more worries that Trump's trade disagreements could be making it a less safe investment.

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

Also on Wednesday, U.S. oil prices went down by 69 cents, to $60.64 a barrel. At the same time, the international price for oil dropped by 65 cents, reaching $64.01 a barrel.

Trump's taxes on imports have made people more worried that economies will grow more slowly, so there will be less need for oil and other materials.

The US dollar's value went down compared to the Japanese yen, from 143.24 to 142.26 yen. The euro's value went up compared to the dollar, from $1.1283 to $1.1377.