The Nasdaq plunges 350 points amid chip restrictions, Nvidia earnings

The Nasdaq Composite index fell almost 1.4% on Tuesday after February consumer confidence missed expectations, coming in at 98.3 compared with the consensus of 103.0, and down from 105.3 in January — the worst decline since August. U.S. government debt rallied and the dollar weakened.

The Nasdaq fell about 260 points. The S&P 500 dropped about 0.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained by about 160 points .

Money markets are now fully pricing a more than two quarter-point interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year, Bloomberg News reports, even after 12-month average inflation expectations surged to 6% from 5.2%, partly driven by concern about tariffs.

The Magnificent 7 shares declined more than 2% as a group. Nvidia (NVDA-1.95%) and Super Micro (SMCI-10.15%) shares fell in New York trading on a report — following declines in Japanese chipmakers including Tokyo Electron in Tokyo — that the U.S. is seeking tighter chip restrictions on China.

Strategy, formerly called MicroStrategy (MSTR-9.72%), plunged 11%, following Bitcoin, which has fallen below $88,000, with other cryptocurrencies pacing the decline. The company, led by Michael Saylor, owns about 471,100 Bitcoin, making it the largest publicly traded holder of the token.

Chegg (CHGG-29.42%) stock fell 33% after the online learning platform filed a lawsuit in federal district court against Google. Chegg claims that AI-generated summaries of search results have negatively affected its traffic and revenue.

Home Depot (HD+2.71%) rose 2.8% after sales in the quarter through Feb. 2 just topped Wall Street expectations. The home improvement retailer projected a 1% increase in comparable sales this fiscal year. Bloomberg reported that the average analyst estimate was for a 1.65% increase.

Hims & Hers (HIMS-21.32%) stock dove 22% even after the millennial-focused telehealth company reported soaring sales for 2024 last night.