US stocks close in red

​​​​​​​By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - US stocks closed Monday in the red as the fear index soared more than 7%.

The Dow fell 0.45%, or 200.52 points, to close at 43,975.09.

The Nasdaq inched up 0.3%, or 64.62 points, to 21,385.40, and the S&P 500 rose 0.25%, or 16 points, to 6,373.45.

The VIX Index, also known as the “fear index," rose 7.26% to 16.25.

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to meet Friday in the US state of Alaska, with Trump hoping that the meeting would result in a ceasefire in Ukraine.

"Ultimately, I’m going to put the two of them in a room. I’ll be there, or I won’t be there, and I think it’ll get solved," he said Monday.

On the trade front, it was reported that Trump signed an executive order extending the tariff reduction on Chinese goods for another 90 days.

In addition, following reports last week that gold imports would be subject to tariffs, Trump announced Monday that no customs duties would be imposed on the imports.

On the macroeconomic data front, investors are waiting for inflation data on Tuesday and Thursday's producer price index in the US, which are expected to provide insights into inflation trends and the effect of tariffs.

Inflation data is significant for the direction of the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy.

Meanwhile, shares of US chipmakers Nvidia and AMD fell 0.3% and 0.28%, respectively, following reports that the companies agreed to pay 15% of the revenue from chip sales to China to the US government to obtain export licenses for semiconductors.

Trump confirmed that an agreement had been reached with Nvidia to pay 15% of the revenue from its “H20” chips sold to China to the US government, while indicating that he might be open to allowing sales to China if the company's latest chip was designed in a less advanced form.

Intel shares, which had been declining since Trump demanded CEO Lip-Bu Tan's resignation last week, gained 3.7% as Tan was expected to visit the White House.