NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks tumbled in early trading Wednesday, as US Treasury yields remained elevated and investors awaited the release of the Federal Reserve’s summary of economic conditions.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 0.9 percent to 38,503.12, while the broad-based S&P 500 Index slid 0.8 percent to 5,264.28.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.8 percent to 16,879.80.
This came as the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note hit 4.6 percent, signaling expectations that the US central bank could keep interest rates high.
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The yield on the two-year Treasury note was above 4.9 percent.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Fed is due to release its report on the US economy known as the “beige book.”
“Softness among the mega-cap stocks” is adding pressure to the market as well, noted Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com.
Among individual companies, Nvidia shares dropped around 2.1 percent after a rally the day before on reports that Elon Musk’s xAI plans to purchase chips from it.
American Airlines shares plummeted nearly 13 percent after lowering its second quarter sales outlook, while Southwest Airlines shares dipped 5.5 percent.
ConocoPhillips shares slid by 2.9 percent after announcing a takeover of competitor Marathon Oil in an all-stock transaction valued at $22.5 billion.
Marathon Oil shares picked up around 9.0 percent following the news.
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