New York — U.S. markets closed lower on Wednesday as investors digested Anthropic’s blockbuster IPO filing alongside renewed trade friction between Washington and Beijing.

Index	Close	Change
S&P 500	7,532	▼ 0.29%
DOW	50,776	▼ 1.04%
NASDAQ	26,853	▼ 0.89%
Bitcoin	$63,882	▼ 4.25%

The Dow Jones Industrial Average led the retreat, shedding 531 points as defensive sectors outperformed growth names. The tech-heavy NASDAQ fell 0.89%, dragged lower by profit-taking in AI-adjacent stocks after Anthropic’s $965 billion valuation filing sparked debate over whether AI equities are overheated.

Cryptocurrency markets fared worse. Bitcoin tumbled 4.25% to $63,882, while Ethereum dropped nearly 5%. Analysts pointed to macro uncertainty and a strengthening dollar as headwinds for digital assets.

Sources: Bloomberg, CNBC, CoinGecko