US Stocks Fall As AI, Oil And Yield Worries Rise

U.S. stocks closed lower on Monday as investors worried that the pace of artificial intelligence development may be slowing, while tensions in the Middle East pushed up oil prices and the 10-year Treasury yield briefly topped 5%, according to ETNet. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 152.09 points, or 0.29%, to 52,421.2. The S&P 500 dropped 37 points, or 0.48%, to 7,619.98, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 146.62 points, or 0.56%, to 26,186.41. Chip stocks were broadly weaker, with Nvidia down 3.4%, AMD down 4.4%, Broadcom down 4.8% and Micron Technology down 5.3%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 5.9%. Among large-cap tech names, Meta rose 2.7%, Alphabet gained 3.2%, Microsoft added nearly 2% and Apple edged up 0.2%, while Tesla fell 1.8% and Amazon lost 1.3%. In energy markets, Brent crude briefly climbed to near $110 a barrel after a key east-west pipeline in Saudi Arabia was attacked and shut, before trimming gains to $106.09, up 1.4%. West Texas Intermediate rose 1.6% to $101.74. The 10-year Treasury yield hit about 5.011%, its first break above that level since 2023, before easing to around 4.96%. The move reflected rising concern over inflation, fiscal deficits and the Federal Reserve's rate outlook. Investors are now focused on this week's Federal Open Market Committee meeting, with markets widely expecting a 25-basis-point rate hike to a 3.75% to 4% range. Reuters' latest survey showed 85% of economists expect a hike, while futures imply about a 90% chance. Gold prices also fell as rate expectations rose. Spot gold dropped 0.9% to $4,305 an ounce, while New York gold futures fell about 1.3% to $4,350. The dollar strengthened, with the dollar index touching 99.73, its highest since September 2, before trading around 99.5. The yen weakened after the dollar rebounded above 154 yen, while the euro slipped to around $1.152 before ending the day at $1.155, down 0.3%.