The US100 is down nearly 2%; Microsoft freezes hiring in its cloud and sales divisions💡

The declines on Wall Street are clearly accelerating. The Nasdaq is already down more than 2%, and S&P 500 futures are hitting new session lows. Sentiment is being dragged down by several factors at once: Microsoft announced a hiring freeze in its cloud computing and sales divisions, raising questions about the health of the entire tech sector and, above all, the AI hype. Meanwhile, geopolitics is making itself felt again—as reported by Reuters, following the death of Ali Khamenei on February 28, Iran’s conservative political wing, centered mainly around the the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is increasingly vocal in its demands for the development of nuclear weapons. Reuters reports that while Tehran has not yet formally decided to change its nuclear doctrine, the Revolutionary Guard—now the dominant force in the country—is increasingly challenging the existing policy. Markets are interpreting this as a new, threatening layer of uncertainty. 

Market prices on the major markets are listed below:

Source: xStation