Another sell-off for artificial-intelligence stocks helped drag the U.S. market sharply lower Wednesday, as Wall Street's former superstars continue to face heavy scrutiny for their success.
The S&P 500 dropped 1.6% for its first back-to-back drop in three weeks and is back to where it was in early May. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 953 points, or 1.9%, and the Nasdaq composite led the market lower with a 2% slide.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil rose 1.8% to $93.10 after President Donald Trump warned Iran would 'pay the price' for stalled negotiations between the two on their war. The war has been keeping the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut to oil tankers, which has prevented the delivery of crude from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide. High oil prices have sent inflation higher, and a report on Wednesday showed that prices for U.S. consumers jumped in May at the highest speed in three years.
Super Micro Computer tumbled 28% after saying late Tuesday that it plans to raise $7 billion in cash by selling shares of stock and convertible preferred stock. Such moves raise the most money for companies when their stock prices are high, and they can dilute the ownership stakes of existing shareholders. Micron Technology swung from an early loss of nearly 4% to a modest gain and back to a loss of 4.7%. Nvidia, the chip company that's grown into a nearly $4.9 trillion behemoth because of the AI boom, was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500 after falling 3.7%. The second-heaviest was another AI winner, Broadcom, which fell 5.1%.
Weakening stocks for companies with big fuel bills also pulled the market lower. United Airlines sank 6.2%, and cruise-operator Carnival fell 6.3% after oil prices rose due to the latest fighting in the war with Iran. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil rose 1.8% to $93.10 after President Donald Trump warned Iran would 'pay the price' for stalled negotiations between the two on their war.
In stock markets abroad, indexes in Europe were mixed following sharper drops in Asia. South Korea's Kospi tumbled 4.5%, hurt by losses for tech giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 4.54% from 4.53% late Tuesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with its overnight interest rates, held at 4.13%.
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