US MARKET CLOSE | Stocks Fall a Third Day as Treasury Yields Jump and Oil Tops $100

U.S. stocks fell for a third straight session on Wednesday while oil prices climbed and Treasury yields jumped after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled a new bond buyback plan, according to Sina Finance. The Dow dropped 405.41 points, or 0.77%, to 52,380.66; the S&P 500 fell 37.16 points, or 0.48%, to 7,636.36; and the Nasdaq lost 168.07 points, or 0.64%, to 26,253.34. Most of the "Magnificent Seven" declined, with Google down more than 2% and Amazon off more than 1%, while Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft and Tesla posted slight losses; Meta rose more than 6%. Storage names gained, as SK Hynix climbed more than 7%, Micron rose more than 2% and SanDisk added more than 1%. Optical communications shares advanced, with Marvell Technology up more than 4% and Lumentum up more than 1%. Treasury yields jumped after the Treasury said it would triple the size of its buyback operations for long-dated government debt to $6 billion, a move that followed last month's announcement to at least double the debt buyback program. After the news, the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.857%, the highest level since November 2023, after briefly topping the closely watched 4.8% mark as rising oil prices heightened inflation concerns. Yields continued higher despite the larger buyback plan because some on Wall Street had expected an even bigger scale from Bessent, with Peter Boockvar of The Boock Report noting that some had anticipated buybacks as high as $7 billion or $8 billion. Thomas Martin of Globalt Investments said the market was "doing OK" despite growing worries over higher oil prices and rates, adding that it had not seen a correction since earlier this year. The senior portfolio manager said sentiment in the stock market was at an extreme level, as was sentiment on higher rates, and that the two should not be able to coexist for long. Oil hit triple digits for the first time in more than a month after the U.S.-Iran conflict escalated and U.S. forces struck five Iranian tankers. Benchmark Brent crude futures settled up 3.36% at $101.21 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rose 3.25% to close at $96.05 a barrel, both the highest settlements since May. Concerns that a war in the Strait of Hormuz would cause lasting energy supply disruptions added to bets that the Federal Reserve will raise rates next week. Traders now see a 60% probability of a 25-basis-point hike this month, up slightly from the prior day, according to CME data.