Wall St wobbles as rising oil and Treasury yields stoke investor unease

Wall Street’s main indexes slipped on Tuesday, dragged down by higher crude prices, elevated Treasury yields and an uncertain outlook for AI demand that kept investors at bay.

Chipmakers rose after a selloff on Monday, with Nvidia advancing marginally. But sentiment toward other Big Tech stocks was mixed, as Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft fell more than 1% each.

The latest bout of anxiety was driven by calls from top AI companies to slow the development of the technology, citing safety concerns.

While there is little clarity so far on how such a slowdown would work, the declines have added to the gloom in markets at a time when above-target inflation and fears of higher borrowing costs have already clouded the backdrop for equities.

“Delays are not good on Wall Street. Any sort of slowdown would be a problem. But I think at this point, the market doesn’t believe there will be a slowdown,” said Joe Saluzzi, co-founder and co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading.

“There’s just too many competitive factors, and some of these companies want to go public. You’re not going public nless you’re showing some earnings and growth.”

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates, with traders pricing in a nearly 93% chance of a hike on Wednesday.

At 11:32 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 464.01 points, or 0.89%, to 51,957.19, the S&P 500 was down 37.69 points, or 0.49%, to 7,582.70 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 197.46 points, or 0.75%, to 25,988.95.

“The reaction signals some exhaustion in the AI trade, as traders begin questioning the AI premium independent of the broader inflation and rates narrative,” said Jake Behan, head of capital markets at Direxion.

Oil prices weigh

The Middle East conflict has shown few signs of easing, keeping oil prices elevated and deepening concerns of a supply shock.

Brent crude futures rose 2.6% to $108.41, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were trading at $104.76, also up 3.3%.

“Energy is doing most of the damage on the inflationary front at present,” said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial.

Among the 11 major sector indexes on the S&P 500, energy was the sole winner, rising 1.9%. The S&P 500 consumer discretionary index led declines with a 1.4% drop.

The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note hit its highest since 2007, as investors braced for what many expect to be the first in a series of rate increases. It was last up 3.47 basis points at 4.9957%.

Elsewhere, shares of Dave & Buster’s tumbled 17% after second-quarter revenue missed expectations.

Waystar rose about 7% after Reuters reported the healthcare software firm was exploring options, including a potential sale.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 2.56-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.57-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted seven new 52-week highs and 13 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 29 new highs and 208 new lows.