Wall Street indices decline. Investors await NVIDIA’s quarterly report for chips

The main indices on Wall Street fell at the beginning of trading yesterday, as investors awaited the quarterly report of Nvidia, the leader in the field of artificial intelligence chips.
According to Reuters, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 46.20 points, or about 0.13 percent, to 35,104.84 points.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 8.61 points, or 0.19 percent, to 4,538.77 points, while the Nasdaq Composite index fell 67.30 points, or 0.47 percent, to 14,217.23 points.
On the other hand, European stocks fell yesterday under pressure from real estate stocks, while Italian stocks lagged behind their European counterparts yesterday as the banking sector was affected. The European STOXX 600 index fell by about 0.1 percent, while the Italian stock index closed down by 1.3 percent yesterday, with banking stocks affected, recording their worst daily performance in a month.
Monte dei Paschi di Siena shares lost 7.9 percent after Italy sold a 25 percent stake in the bank it received help to rescue. Banco BBM shares fell about 4 percent after Deutsche Bank downgraded its rating to “hold” from “buy” and removed it from its top picks for European Union banks. Interest rate-sensitive real estate stocks led sectoral losses, falling by about 2.1 percent. In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei index closed slightly lower yesterday, as the rise of the yen against the dollar led to selling of shares of automakers. The Nikkei fell 0.1 percent to 33,354.14 after opening about 0.2 percent higher and trading slightly higher during the session.
The broader Topix index fell 0.2 percent to 2,367.79 points.
The yen regained its strength as the dollar fell to new lows against major currencies, with China intervening to raise the yuan.
Honda Motor shares fell 2.21 percent, Toyota Motor shares fell 1.62 percent, and Mazda Motor shares fell 4.5 percent. The auto sector index fell 1.75 percent, becoming the worst performer among the 33 industrial sub-indices on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The strength of the yen affects exporters, because it harms the value of profits achieved by companies abroad when they are transferred to Japan and calculated in yen.
The Nikkei rose to its highest levels since March 1990 yesterday before reversing its course and closing lower.
The performance of commercial companies was weak, with “Itochu” shares falling 3.66 percent and “Mitsui” shares falling 2.9 percent.
The wholesale index fell 1.69 percent. Display screen maker Sharp shares jumped 9.52 percent, becoming the best performer on the Nikkei Index.