Most stock markets around the world went down on Wednesday. This happened because the US government made it more difficult to export advanced computer chips used for artificial intelligence, and companies like Nvidia were strongly affected.

The S&P 500 futures dropped by 1.2%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures also went down by 0.6%.

Shares in the chip company Nvidia went down by 6.3% after the market closed. This happened because the U.S. government made stricter rules about sending out one of their computer chips used for artificial intelligence. Shares in the competing company AMD also fell by 7.1% after the U.S. markets closed.

Worries about a trade war started again when the Trump administration said they would look into important minerals like rare earths. These minerals are used in products such as smartphones and electric cars.

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 because the government said that the rate of inflation in the UK fell for the second month in a row in March. This decrease was mainly because gas prices were lower.

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

Stock markets in China went down more than others in the area. This happened after the Chinese government said their economy, which is the second biggest in the world, grew well at 5.4% over the past year in the last three months. This growth was helped by factories making more goods, people buying more things in shops, and sending more goods to other countries. But, when looking at growth just from one three-month period to the next, it was slower. It grew by 1.2% from January to March, compared to 1.6% in the last three months of 2024.

Hong Kong's main stock market index, the Hang Seng, fell by 2% to 20,922.54. However, the Shanghai Composite index went up slightly by 0.1% to 3,271.19.

Economists in private companies have lowered their predictions after President Donald Trump raised taxes on most Chinese products to 145%, and China also raised its taxes on American products to 125%.

Experts at ANZ Research said that activity in this quarter is already becoming weaker.

Raymond Yeung and other researchers from ANZ said in a report that they think the sudden change in tariffs is caused more by the lack of certainty than the actual tariff amount. They also said that President Trump's announcements have affected how businesses feel and what they do.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 stock market index went down by 1% to 33,920.40. This was because of large technology companies such as Advantest and Disco Corp., whose stock prices fell a lot.

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

The stock market in India, called the Sensex, didn't change much, and the market in Bangkok, the SET, went down a little by 0.1%.

On Tuesday, American stocks went down a little. The S&P 500 fell by 0.2%, and the Dow went down by 0.4%. The Nasdaq composite also dropped a small amount, less than 0.1%.

Because of the uncertainty about President Donald Trump's tariffs, investors waited to see what would happen.

The U.S. bond market seemed calmer after the sudden and big changes last week. These changes made people less sure that U.S. government bonds are a safe place to put their money when there are risks.

The interest rate on government bonds stayed at 4.33%. This was lower than 4.38% on Monday and 4.48% last week. Two weeks ago, it was only 4.01%. When investors are worried, these rates often go down. So, the changes this week show that people are feeling more confident.

The value of the U.S. dollar also became stable after falling last week. This made people worry more that Trump's trade war might also be making it less secure as an 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 operations.

Early on Wednesday, the price of U.S. oil went down by 69 cents to $60.64 a barrel, and international oil, called Brent crude, dropped 65 cents to $64.01 a barrel.

Trump's tariffs have made people think economies will slow down, which means they will need less oil and other resources.

The US dollar went down against the Japanese yen, from 143.24 yen to 142.26 yen. The euro went up against the dollar, from $1.1283 to $1.1377.