Markets Drop Ahead of Fed Meeting; Huang Speech Can't Save NVIDIA

Market Overview - Market activity showed a downward trend, with the Dow falling by 260 points (-0.62%), the S&P 500 down by 60 points (-1.07%), and the Nasdaq decreasing by 304 points (-1.71%) [1] - The small-cap Russell 2000 also declined, dropping 18 points (-0.89%) [1] NVIDIA Performance - NVIDIA shares dropped by 3.4% following CEO Jensen Huang's keynote speech at the GTC conference, despite the announcement of new Blackwell Ultra chips and next-generation Vera Rubin GPUs [2][3] - Short-term demand for chips remains challenged, with increased competition offering lower price points [3] - Huang did not provide any upward guidance on earnings, revenues, or margins during his address [3] Economic Indicators - Industrial Production for February increased by 1.4%, marking the third consecutive month of positive growth, although lower than the revised 1.9% for January [7] - Capacity Utilization rose to 78.2%, exceeding expectations of 77.8% and the previous month's 77.7%, but remains 1.4% below the average over the past 50 years [8]