Rising Oil Prices, Falling Tech Stocks Shake Wall Street

Some sharp reversals kept financial markets unsteady on Thursday, as oil prices rose and US stock indexes swung.

• The S&P 500 fell 36.41 points, or 0.5%, to 7,765.36 for its second straight loss after setting an all-time high.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 51.77 points, or 0.1%, to 51,231.64 after flipping between gains and losses through the day.
• The Nasdaq composite fell 345.35 points, or 1.3%, to 27,193.34.

Drops for technology stocks overshadowed gains for the majority of the S&P 500, the AP reports. The bond market was even more unsettled, as yields jumped in the morning before dropping in the afternoon. Oil prices had their own swings as the price of Brent topped $104 per barrel.

Brent got to nearly $106 in the morning before President Trump sent its price veering again after saying “productive discussions” are happening with Iran and that the US military would not attack it before the upcoming US elections in November. That briefly sent Brent toward $103 before it eventually turned back upward.

• The 10-year Treasury yield initially rose with oil prices, going from 5.28% late Wednesday to 5.35% early Thursday morning. But it then fell all the way back to 5.23%. It dropped after the U.S. government said that it sold $22 billion in 30-year Treasury bonds at an auction with a high yield of 5.618%. That helped bring the 30-year Treasury yield down to 5.61% from 5.73% in the morning, which is a notable move for the bond market.

On Wall Street, the ease in Treasury yields helped the majority of US stocks rise, including two out of every three in the S&P 500 index. PepsiCo climbed 3.7% after the snack and drink company reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, thanks in part to strength outside of North America.

• But drops for several influential technology stocks overshadowed such gains. Nvidia, the chip company that’s ridden the tidal wave of demand created by artificial-intelligence technology, fell 2.9%. Because it’s the largest stock by value on Wall Street, it was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500 even though other stocks had larger losses. That included drops for other AI-related stocks, including Broadcom’s 4.3% fall and Micron Technology’s 4.8% slide.
• The losses came even though a bellwether for the chip industry, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., reported growth for September that suggested its revenue for the latest quarter was strong enough to top analysts’ expectations. TSMC’s stock that trades in the United States fell 3%.