US stocks experienced severe volatility on the 20th. The S&P 500 Index plummeted over 3% from its intraday high, recording the largest intraday reversal since April, and finally closed down 1.56% at 6,538.76. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.16% to 22,078.048, with both indexes hitting two-month lows. NVIDIA’s trajectory epitomized the market trend—it surged over 5% intraday before closing down more than 3%, leading the decline among the seven major tech giants. AMD and Oracle fell 8% and 6% respectively.

Behind the shift in market sentiment are concerns about the Fed’s policy outlook and divergent corporate earnings. Although NVIDIA’s strong earnings briefly boosted the market, hawkish remarks from Fed officials quickly suppressed risk appetite. In contrast, Walmart bucked the trend with a nearly 6.5% surge, driven by a 5.8% year-on-year increase in Q3 revenue and a striking 27% growth in its e-commerce business.

Volatility intensified across markets. US Treasury yields fell sharply after US stocks turned lower, with the 10-year benchmark Treasury yield dropping about 6 basis points intraday to 4.08%. Cryptocurrencies continued their sharp decline, with Bitcoin briefly falling below $87,000, a seven-month low. WTI crude oil futures closed down 0.50% at $59.14 per barrel, a one-week low, as geopolitical positives were offset by market risk aversion.