US Stock Close: Seven Giants Stumble, Nasdaq Falls 2%, Three Major Indices Drop for Fourth Consecutive Week

How AI · How the Middle East Conflict Triggers Four Consecutive Weeks of Decline in U.S. Stocks

Cailian Press, March 21 (Editor Zhao Hao) — On Friday (March 20), influenced by the Middle East conflict, U.S. stocks opened lower and continued to decline, with all three major indices closing down, including the Nasdaq dropping over 2%.

By the close, the S&P 500 fell 1.51% to 6,506.48 points; the Nasdaq Composite declined 2.01% to 21,647.61 points, both hitting their lowest levels since September 2025. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.96% to 45,577.47 points, the lowest closing since October last year.

Looking at the weekly performance, the Dow fell 2.11%, the S&P 500 declined 1.9%, and the Nasdaq dropped 2.07%. All three indices have fallen for four consecutive weeks, with the S&P marking its longest weekly losing streak since March 2025, and the Dow its longest since February 2023.

During trading, the Dow and Nasdaq briefly entered the “correction zone”—a 10% decline from their historical highs. At that time, Xinhua News Agency cited U.S. media reports stating that the U.S. military was dispatching three additional warships and about 2,500 Marines to the Middle East.

Meanwhile, an Iraqi Petroleum Ministry source said the Iraqi government has decided to implement “force majeure” measures on all oil fields operated by foreign oil companies responsible for development in Iraq. As a result, Brent crude futures closed at $112.19 per barrel, up 3.26%.

In the late session, CCTV reporters learned that U.S. Department of Defense officials have prepared detailed plans for deploying ground forces to Iran. It is known that Trump has been weighing whether to deploy ground troops in the region. It remains unclear under what circumstances he might authorize such deployment.

Baird investment strategist Ross Mayfield commented, “If this conflict escalates to the point of deploying ground forces, we could see oil and natural gas prices continue rising for at least a few more weeks. You should closely monitor every headline related to energy infrastructure in the region.”

Mayfield added, “Honestly, the U.S. stock market has not yet experienced a sell-off sufficient to reflect such an event, so there may still be some downside potential.”

As concerns about U.S. inflation return, markets are beginning to price in the Federal Reserve’s potential tightening policies. The CME FedWatch Tool indicates a 12.4% chance of a 25 basis point rate hike at the April meeting.

B. Riley chief market strategist Art Hogan said, “In this environment of high uncertainty, a 10% correction in any index is not unusual. The S&P 500, with its broader and more diversified composition, has experienced smaller declines. But this also indicates we are in a very uncertain period.”

Hot Stocks Performance

The “Big Seven” tech giants all declined (by market cap): Nvidia down 3.28%, Apple down 0.39%, Google C down 2.27%, Microsoft down 1.84%, Amazon down 1.63%, Meta down 2.15%, Tesla down 3.24%.

Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 2.45%, with only 3 of its 30 components rising. Coherent dropped 7.96%, Intel down 5%, AMSlay down 3.6%, Broadcom down 2.92%. Arm Holdings rose 1.95%.

Leading the decline in optical communication stocks, Applied Optoelectronics fell 14.11%, Lumentum down 8.52%, Coherent down 7.96%.

Storage stocks also declined collectively, with SanDisk down 8.08%, Western Digital down 7.52%, Seagate Technology down 5.38%, Micron Technology down 4.81%.

Super Micro Computer plunged 33.32%, hitting a new low since November 2024.

In Chinese concept stocks, the Livermore China Concept Stock Index fell 2.49%, and the Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index declined 2.92%.

Most popular Chinese stocks declined: Kingsoft Cloud down 9.11%, Xpeng Motors down 8.36%, NIO down 7.81%, Baidu down 3.99%, New Oriental down 3.32%. Qihoo 360 Technology rose 1.76%, TAL Education Group up 0.35%.

Company News

【Amazon reportedly secretly developing a smartphone】

Four insiders revealed that Amazon plans to launch a new smartphone after more than a decade, though the project is still in early stages. The phone is seen as a potential personalized mobile device that can sync with the home voice assistant Alexa and provide 24/7 services to Amazon users.

【Eightco invests an additional $40 million in OpenAI】

On March 20, Eightco announced an additional $40 million investment in OpenAI, following its previous $50 million investment, bringing its total investment in OpenAI to $90 million. With this latest investment, OpenAI now accounts for about 30% of Eightco’s total holdings.

【Xiaopeng: IRON humanoid robot to be mass-produced by late 2026 with a monthly capacity of over 1,000 units】

Xiaopeng Chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng said the new generation IRON robot will be mass-produced by the end of 2026. The Xiaopeng IRON is equipped with three Turing AI chips, offering significantly higher effective computing power than industry robots. In Q1, Xiaopeng started building a humanoid robot mass production base in Guangzhou. The monthly production target for IRON by the end of this year is over 1,000 units.

【Tencent disbands AILab; staff reassigned to large model and industry-academic cooperation centers】

On March 20, Tencent announced internally that AILab has been disbanded, and its staff have been reassigned to the Large Language Model Department and the Industry-Academic Cooperation Center. Tencent Vice President Jiang Jie no longer serves as head of AILab, though his other positions remain unchanged. He is Vice President of Tencent’s Corporate Development Business Group (CDG) and Technology Engineering Business Group (TEG). Founded in 2016, Tencent AILab is an enterprise-level AI research lab focusing on foundational AI research, including vision, language, natural language processing, and machine learning. AILab also participated in the development of Tencent’s Mengtian large model. Tencent has not responded to inquiries about the restructuring.

(Cailian Press, Zhao Hao)