Wall Street Falls on Geopolitical Risks and Spreading High-Interest-Rate Fallout

All three major U.S. stock indexes closed lower across the board.

The Nasdaq fell by nearly 1%, and the S&P 500 dropped back down to the 7,600 range for the first time in six trading sessions.

By sector, materials, communication services, and consumer discretionary showed weak performance with declines of around 1%.

Wall Street retreated across the board as U.S. Treasury yields soared to multi-year highs amid compounding geopolitical risks.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury surpassed 5.27% during the session, marking its highest level since 2007, while the 30-year yield also broke above 5.5%.

Oil prices surged after U.S. President Trump rejected Iran's proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while expectations for an additional Federal Reserve rate hike were priced in at around 70%, weighing heavily on the market.

However, crude oil prices significantly trimmed their gains during the session as the possibility of additional negotiations between the U.S. and Iran increased through Qatar's mediation.

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook diagnosed that inflationary pressures would persist for the coming months due to soaring power and resource demand driven by the expansion of AI infrastructure, alongside the fallout from high oil prices.

She maintained a cautious stance regarding additional interest rate hikes.

The fallout from high interest rates spread across tech stocks that had previously led the upward trend.

AMD fell 3.6%, and Micron declined 2.6%.

On the other hand, Nvidia rose by about 1.6% after announcing a record-breaking additional share buyback plan amounting to 204 trillion won.

Tonight (September 29), the U.S. Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for August and the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for September are scheduled to be released, allowing a check on changes in employment and consumer indicators.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.