European markets ended lower: Paris lost 0.42%, Frankfurt – 0.23% and Milan – 0.35%. Only London remained in balance with -0.06%, reports AFP.

In the United States, Wall Street showed mixed results. After opening in the red, the Dow Jones lost 0.46 percent and the Nasdaq was up 0.27 percent by 16:00 GMT. The S&P 500 traded flat, up 0.02%.

The move down was initiated in the morning by Asian stock markets, which fell sharply ahead of a possible visit by the head of the US Congress.

Throughout the day, the markets’ eyes were fixed on Ms. Pelosi’s plane. FlightRadar24 sometimes had more than 300,000 people following a flight at the same time, causing a computer “bug” on the site.

Shortly after her arrival, Pelosi insisted that the US “unreservedly supports” Taiwan, while Beijing, which claims ownership of the territory, called its position “extremely dangerous”.

“Any disruptions to Taiwan’s trade as a result of these tensions could exacerbate difficulties already being felt in global supply chains,” particularly semiconductors, Taiwan’s top exporter, said Michael Hewson, an analyst at CMC Markets.

Geopolitical news added an uncertain backdrop for markets as the half-yearly corporate earnings season comes to a close and investors turn their attention back to weak macroeconomic indicators.

“The American economy is slowing down and we are trying to see if the recession will only be technical or if it will be a real recession,” Alexandre Baradez, an analyst at IG France, told AFP.

The strengthening of the monetary policy of central banks is also analyzed. On Tuesday, the central bank of Australia increased the discount rate by half a percentage point.