Tech giant Apple (AAPL) lost its title as the world's most valuable listed company on Tuesday, after shares in the iPhone maker slid 5% amid volatility around tariffs.
The fall in Apple's (AAPL) shares took its market capitalisation down to $2.6tn (£2.02tn) and saw it overtaken by fellow tech behemoth Microsoft (MSFT), which has a valuation of $2.63tn.
US stocks resumed a sell-off on Tuesday, ahead of president Donald Trump's higher custom tariffs coming into effect today.
"The reality of the tariff implementation left investors recoiling, leaving the Dow Jones (^DJI) down on the day after a brisk start which had initially propelled the index some 4% higher," said Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor. "The other main indices were also burnt, with the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) dipping briefly into bear market territory before marginally recovering, and with the Nasdaq (^IXIC) again subject to a barrage of selling."
He said that Tuesday's fall in Apple (AAPL) shares took its year-to-date performance to a cumulative loss of 29%, "in a targeted acknowledgement of the hyper-tariffs being placed on China by the White House".
Trump's sweeping tariffs which kicked in on Wednesday morning include 104% levies on Chinese goods.
"While near-term demand trends are driving increased demand for the MI308 from Chinese hyperscalers, we are increasingly concerned whether this is sustainable given concerns that further export restrictions will be levied by the US," he said.
A second factor he cited was the increasing risk to the company's gross margin given a potential price war with struggling rival Intel (INTC).
In addition, Vinh said that AMD (AMD) had limited opportunities to gain additional share compared to Intel (INTC) and increasing competition given the progress its rival is making on 18A chips.
A report found that Ford (F), along with General Motors (GM) and Stellantis (STLA) were the most exposed to Trump's 25% tariffs on foreign-made cars, which came into effect last week.
The report from auto data firm JATO Dynamics said Detroit's "Big Three" were more exposed to tariffs than German and Japanese rivals.
JATO Dynamics found that Ford, GM and Stellantis together sold 1.85 million imported vehicles in the US in 2024 – originating from Mexico, Canada and China – which accounted for 12.6% of their global total sales.
By comparison, sales of imported vehicles in the US accounted for 8.5% of total global sales for Japan's Big Three – Toyota, Honda and Nissan – versus 6.9% for Germany's Volkwagen (VOW3.DE), BMW Group (BMW.DE) and Mercedes (MBG.DE), according to the report.
Felipe Munoz, a global analyst at JATO Dynamics, said: "The rollout of these tariffs is yet another problem for the industry to navigate. The US is the world’s second-largest vehicle market, and it will now be more difficult than ever for the vast majority of non-Chinese automakers around the world to trade."
Shares in Ford (F) fell nearly 6% on Tuesday, while Stellantis (STLA) closed the session nearly 8% in the red and GM (GM) was down 2.4%.
On the UK market, shares in BP (BP.L) fell 4.6% on Wednesday morning as oil prices slid over fears of the economic impact of an escalating trade war that could weigh on fuel demand.
Fellow oil major Shell was also down on Wednesday, with shares trading 3.7% in the red.
Brent crude futures (BZ=F) were down 3.6% to $60.57 on Wednesday, as Trump's additional tariff rates came into effect.
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "[Brent crude] is trading at levels not seen since 2021, as the world was still in the grip of the pandemic.
"If the huge American market closes as a land of opportunity for Chinese firms, factories will be forced to slow production. Authorities would like Chinese consumers to take up the slack, but they are still reeling from a property crisis, and now trade turmoil may be more likely to induce fresh caution."
The UK's biggest listed company, AstraZeneca (AZN.L), was the biggest faller in the FTSE 100 (^FTSE) on Wednesday after Trump warned that he would shortly announce a new tariff on pharmaceuticals.
Shares in AstraZeneca (AZN.L) were down 5.3%, after Trump said on Tuesday that he would soon unveil a "major" levy on drugmakers.
Rival UK-listed pharma giant GSK (GSK.L) fell 4.6%, while Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk (NOVO-B.CO) was down 4%.
Other European pharma companies were also down on Wednesday, with Germany's Bayer (BAYN.DE) falling nearly 3%, Swiss firm Roche (ROG.SW) declining nearly 6% and Novartis (NOVN.SW) tumbling 6.5%.
