Nosedive

Stocks posted their worst day since last month’s mini-meltdown, with the S&P 500 falling more than 2% as growth and monetary anxieties likely combined to torch risky assets. Just as in the August episode, tech got hit the hardest with Nvidia driving a plunge in chipmakers. And the parallels don’t stop there. The yen jumped, a closely watched manufacturing gauge missed forecasts and oil plummeted on concern about tepid global demand. Wall Street’s “fear gauge” soared and Treasury yields tumbled. Still, the US Federal Reserve’s rate cut is (probably) almost here, and we all know what happened last month after the dust settled. Here’s your markets wrap. —Natasha Solo-Lyons

Speaking of Nvidia, the US Department of Justice sent subpoenas to the company and others as it seeks evidence the chipmaker violated antitrust laws, an escalation of its investigation into the dominant artificial intelligence computing provider. Antitrust officials are said to be concerned that Nvidia is making it harder to switch to other suppliers and penalizes buyers that don’t exclusively use its AI chips.

Citadel Securities and Jane Street, two of the largest market-making firms in the US, are on track for record annual revenue hauls as they further encroach on the trading territory of big banks. First-half net trading revenue rose 81% to $4.9 billion from the same period a year earlier at Citadel Securities, and gained 78% to $8.4 billion at Jane Street, both well ahead of the pace needed for an all-time high annual total.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under pressure from almost all sides, is sticking to his war-footing against Hamas in the face of mass protests at home. Demonstrations exploded following news that six of the hundreds of hostages taken by militants in the Oct. 7 attack were killed. A general strike called by the main labor union—joined by major companies and small businesses—triggered a day of chaos as protesters blamed Netanyahu for not doing enough to free the captives. This came as the US pushes Israel’s embattled leader to agree to a cease-fire and while the UK said the use of British components in Gaza risks violating international humanitarian law.

At least 50 people were killed and more than 235 wounded when Russia attacked a Ukrainian town with two ballistic missiles, one of the deadliest attacks in Vladimir Putin’s 2 ½-year full-scale invasion. The missiles slammed into the Poltava Military Institute of Communication’s main building, causing several stories to collapse.

A former top aide to New York Governor Kathy Hochul named Linda Sun was arrested on federal charges that she acted as an unregistered foreign agent for China. In an indictment filed in Brooklyn on Tuesday that also names her husband, Chris Hu, Sun was charged with crimes including conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act. A representative of Hochul said Sun was fired in March 2023 after the office discovered “evidence of misconduct.”

A remote province in Argentina has created its own currency to offset Javier Milei’s so-called shock therapy. When the new president slashed monthly cash transfers from the government to the provinces, La Rioja went broke. In February, it fell into default. And soon the local economy had sunk into a deep recession. So the governor, an outspoken critic of Milei, dialed up a radical plan of his own. He created the province’s own money.

Cathay Pacific has been inspecting its Airbus SE A350 fleet, focusing on deformed or degraded fuel lines in the engines of widebody aircraft after discovery of the problem caused multiple cancellations while engineers switch out parts. The airline has asked its engineers to make specific checks to the flexible hoses supplying fuel to the engine for abnormalities, deformation, kinks, bulges or degradation.

Aston Martin launched the Vanquish,a new car that will top its lineup in price, power and prestige, at the Venetian Lagoon during the Venice International Film Festival. The two-seat coupe marks comeback of the Vanquish nameplate that Aston Martin has used sporadically since 2001, with the most recent Vanquish models ending production in 2018. With a 5.2-liter, twin-turbo V-12 that produces 835PS (823 horsepower) and 1000Nm (737 pound-feet) of torque, the car shows that the 111-year-old brand hasn’t forsaken internal combustion even as most other automakers have downsized engines and transitioned to hybrid and electric vehicles.