On Monday Eastern Time, the sustained upward momentum of the US stock market came to a temporary halt, and the three major stock indexes collectively fell. As of the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.25%, the Nasdaq fell 0.41%, and the S&P 500 index fell 0.12%.
Overview of US stocks
The three major US stock indexes closed slightly lower. The performance of large technology stocks is divided, with Tesla falling more than 7%, Google falling nearly 3%, Apple falling more than 2.54%, and Meta, Amazon, Netflix, and Microsoft following suit.
Some artificial intelligence concept stocks saw the highest gains, with ultramicro computers rising over 18%, setting a new historical high. The S&P Dow Jones Industrial Average announced that it will include ultramicro computers in the S&P 500 index. Intel rose more than 4%, while Nvidia rose more than 3%, continuing to reach a new historical high.
Popular Chinese concept stocks generally fell, with the Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index falling 3.97%. Ideal Automobile fell more than 13%, Weibo fell more than 9%, Xiaopeng Automobile fell more than 8%, NIO and Vipshop fell more than 7%, JD.com and iQiyi fell more than 4%, Pinduoduo, Alibaba, and Baidu fell more than 3%, Tencent Music fell more than 2%, NetEase fell more than 1%, and Manbang fell slightly. Bilibili rose by over 3%, while Futu Holdings saw a slight increase.
In terms of the commodity market, international oil prices have fallen. As of the close of the day, the price of light crude oil futures for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange has fallen by $1.23, closing at $78.74 per barrel, a decrease of 1.54%; The London Brent crude oil futures for delivery in May fell 75 cents to close at $82.8 per barrel, a decrease of 0.9%. The most active April gold futures market on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $30.6 on the 4th, closing at $2126.3 per ounce, up 1.46%.
Tesla's market value evaporated overnight by 330 billion yuan
On Monday, Tesla's stock price opened low and fell more than 7%, closing at $188.14. Its market value evaporated overnight by $46.1 billion, equivalent to approximately RMB 332.3 billion.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index shows that Musk, 52, currently has a net worth of $19.7 billion, surpassing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's $2003 billion. This is the first time since 2021 that 60 year old Bezos has become the world's richest person.
An analysis suggests that Tesla's sharp decline on Monday is related to its latest sales data in China; In addition, Tesla's price reduction in China launched in January and the new incentive measures launched last week both highlight the immense competitive pressure in the market.
On March 4th, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) released estimated wholesale sales figures for new energy vehicles from major passenger car manufacturers in February 2024: BYD's wholesale sales were 121748 vehicles, while Tesla's wholesale sales in China were 60365 vehicles.
Tesla's sales decreased by 19% year-on-year, the lowest since December 2022. It should be noted that February coincides with the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, with a decrease in car purchasing activities.
On March 1st, Tesla announced a limited time discount for Model 3 and Model Y, offering a maximum discount of 34600 yuan for Model 3/Y purchases by the end of March. The price reduction of Tesla this time is quite low-key, without directly lowering the car price, but promoting under the pretext of insurance subsidies, car paint benefits, etc. The new price of the Model 3 rear wheel drive version is 245900 yuan, which is as low as 237900 yuan after insurance subsidies. The new price of the Model Y rear wheel drive version is 258900 yuan, which is as low as 250900 yuan after insurance subsidies.
In addition, in mid January, Tesla lowered the price of the all-new Model 3 in the Chinese market, with a price reduction of 15500 yuan for the rear wheel drive version and 11500 yuan for the extended version. The price of Model Y rear wheel drive version has been reduced by 7500 yuan.
NVIDIA's market value reaches a new high
As of the close of the US stock market on Monday, Nvidia rose 3.6%, breaking its all-time high above $852, with a market value of $2.1 trillion, surpassing Saudi Aramco's $2.01 trillion.
Last month, Nvidia's financial report showed that its revenue, profit, and first quarter guidance for the fourth quarter of last year exceeded expectations. Nvidia's revenue and profit have set historical records for three consecutive quarters, with a revenue growth of 126% for the entire fiscal year 2024. In terms of core business, the revenue of data center business increased by 409% year-on-year to $18.4 billion, mainly driven by strong demand for large models, recommendation engines, and generative AI.
According to media reports, Richard Clode, portfolio manager of Janus Henderson Investors, told reporters that since mid-2023, the market's debate over Nvidia has mainly focused on its growth trends in 2025 and beyond, rather than its current strong performance. "Through the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at the beginning of this year According to recent financial reports, Nvidia has largely proven to the market that its development will not come to a standstill soon
Apple fined over 1.8 billion euros
On March 4th, the official website of the European Commission announced that the commission has imposed a fine of over 1.8 billion euros on Apple for abusing its dominant position in the market by distributing music streaming applications to iPhone and iPad users ("iOS users") through its Apple Store App Store.
The European Union stated that it would impose an additional 1.8 billion euros on Apple as a deterrent over the basic fine amount, but it did not specify the amount of the basic fine.
The European Commission's fine on Apple was triggered by a complaint from Spotify, a Swedish music streaming service application, against Apple. In 2019, Spotify complained to the European Union about Apple's use of its monopoly to restrict users from accessing other music streaming services, and opposed Apple's App Store charging a 30% commission fee.
The EU antitrust agency believes that Apple's restrictions on other streaming music service providers constitute unfair trading conditions. "For the past decade, Apple has abused its dominant position in the music streaming application market through the App Store by imposing monopolies by restricting developers from informing consumers of cheaper alternative music services outside of Apple's ecosystem, in violation of EU antitrust laws," said Margrethe Vestager, EU antitrust director, in a statement
According to reports, Apple stated in a statement that it plans to appeal this decision, stating that "although regulatory agencies have not found any credible evidence of consumer harm," the decision has still been reached.