Several U.S. chip stocks declined, the first stablecoin company dropped 17%, Chinese concept car stocks strengthened, and Waymo increased by 7%.

Reporter | Liu Xueying Trainee reporter Lin Qianwei

Editor | Wu Guixing

As of 22:14 Beijing time on March 24, U.S. stock’s three major indexes opened lower across the board. The S&P 500 fell 0.69%, the Dow fell 0.74%, and the Nasdaq fell 0.87%.

European stocks were broadly weaker. Germany’s DAX fell 0.94%, France’s CAC 40 fell 0.4%, Europe’s STOXX 50 fell 0.6%, and Italy’s MIB fell 0.44%.

Large-cap tech stocks declined. Microsoft fell more than 2.5%, META fell about 2%, Google and Amazon fell more than 1%, and Tesla rose about 1%. Several popular semiconductor stocks also dropped: Micron Technology fell 3%, Broadcom fell more than 2%, and Intel fell more than 1%.

Oil and gas stocks surged across the board. Apache rose more than 5%, Murphy Oil rose more than 3%, and Occidental Petroleum and Exxon Mobil rose about 2%.

On individual stocks, Jefferies shares rose 5.6%, and are on track to post the largest increase since October. According to reports, Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group is drawing up plans regarding the possibility of acquiring U.S. investment bank Jefferies.

Stablecoin’s first stock CIRCLE shares fell 17%, marking the largest drop since June this year.

China concept stocks were mixed. WeRide rose more than 7%, Li Auto rose more than 5%, and today it announced a $1 billion share buyback plan. Xiaomi, Meituan, and BYD rose more than 1%. On the downside, Hesai Technology and Bilibili led the declines. Alibaba, NetEase, and Baidu fell more than 1%.

Crude oil and gold/silver prices have recently seen large swings. Today, spot gold traded around the 4,400 yuan per ounce level, and was last at $4,389. Spot silver was $68.4 per ounce.

Crude oil rose. New York oil futures rose 4.8% to $92.36 per barrel. Brent crude rose 3.89% on the day to $99.65.

Cryptocurrencies fell across the board. As of 22:23, Bitcoin was below $70,000; both Ethereum and SOL fell more than 2%. In the past 24 hours, a total of 84,000 people worldwide were liquidated.

In the news, according to Xinhua News Agency, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a social media post on March 24 that he is ready to host talks between the United States and Iran. Sharif said: “Pakistan welcomes and fully supports the ongoing efforts to maintain dialogue aimed at ending the war in the Middle East. This is in line with peace and stability within and outside the region. Subject to obtaining agreement from the United States and Iran, Pakistan is honored to serve as host and to facilitate meaningful and decisive outcomes in talks aimed at achieving a comprehensive resolution of the current conflict.”

According to CCTV International News, starting from the evening of March 23 local time, Iran’s capital Tehran and multiple cities including Karaj were hit by airstrikes again. Today (March 24), Iran’s central Isfahan and southwestern Khorramshahr’s energy infrastructure were targeted. A reporter from the China Media Group learned that some local small-scale energy facilities were hit, while large-scale energy infrastructure was not affected. The explosions did not affect the city’s energy supply. Local water, electricity, gas, and residents’ daily life are all normal.

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