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

Business Recorder reported that US equities edged lower on Tuesday as oil costs rose, US government bond yields stayed elevated, and doubts about AI demand kept investors cautious. Chipmakers recovered from Monday's selloff, with Nvidia edging marginally higher, but Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft each fell more than 1%. The latest anxiety followed calls from leading AI firms to slow development of the technology over safety concerns, though the details of any slowdown remain unclear.

The Middle East conflict showed few signs of easing, which kept crude elevated: Brent gained 2.6% to $108.41 and West Texas Intermediate rose 3.3% to $104.76. Energy was the only gainer among the 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes, climbing 1.9%, while consumer discretionary led the losers with a 1.4% fall. The 10-year Treasury yield touched its highest level since 2007, last quoted at 4.9957%, as investors braced for expected rate increases.

Dave & Buster's shares dropped 17% after second-quarter revenue fell short of expectations, while Waystar rose about 7% after Reuters reported that the health care software company was considering alternatives, possibly a sale. Traders are assigning almost a 93% probability to a Federal Reserve rate increase on Wednesday. At 11:32 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.89% at 51,957.19.