Brent closes above $100 for the first time since July and the 10-year hits 4.86%: Wall Street falls a third day while Cloudflare +10%, Datadog +7% and Meta +7% catch the money the chip leaders gave back
Wall Street fell for a third day on Wednesday, and for the third day the reason was two prices, not a company. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 405 points, or 0.8%, to 52,380.66; the S&P 500 fell 0.5% to 7,636.36; the Nasdaq Composite 0.6% to 26,253.34; the Russell 2000 1.4%. Brent crude settled at $100.71, up 2.9%, its first close in triple figures since July, after Iran said it had attacked ten ships near the Strait of Hormuz in answer to the United States sinking five Iranian tankers — the biggest declared exchange of attacks on shipping since the war began in February — and warned it was ready for a more intense war; the British maritime agency UKMTO reported several merchant ships struck on both sides of the strait. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.857%, its highest since November 2023, after the Treasury said it would buy back up to $6 billion of 10- to 20-year debt today, triple its normal operation but smaller than the market had come to expect; the afternoon’s 10-year auction cleared at 4.834% with strong demand and pulled yields off their highs. Energy was the only one of the eleven sectors to rise, +0.8%; industrials −1.5%, consumer discretionary −1.3%, utilities and staples −1.2% did the damage, and the VIX rose about 5% to around 16.6.
Brent closes above $100 for the first time since July and the 10-year hits 4.86%: Wall Street falls a third day while Cloudflare +10%, Datadog +7% and Meta +7% catch the money the chip leaders gave back
1 Third day down: Dow −0.8% to 52,381, S&P −0.5% to 7,636, Nasdaq −0.6%, Russell −1.4% — energy the only sector up, Alphabet −2.3%, Amazon −1.8%, Apple −0.3% after its event
2 The flip held to the bell: Cloudflare +10.5%, Datadog +7.2%, Meta +6.6%, Marvell +4.3%, Astera +4.0% — while the software ETF still fell 0.8% with Shopify −5.5%, CoreWeave −4.9%, IonQ −5.8%
3 Chips: the fund beat the index for a third day, but the leaders faded — Nvidia −0.9%, Broadcom −1.1%, TSMC −0.8%, ASML −2.0% against AMD +3.0%, Micron +2.8%, Intel +1.7%, Corning +1.5%
4 Oil: Brent settles at $100.71, the first close above $100 since July, after the biggest exchange of attacks on tankers since the war began — Booking −3.8%, SpaceX −3.9%, airlines and cruise lines lower
5 Bonds: 10-year 4.857%, highest since November 2023 — the Treasury triples its buyback to $6 billion and the market wanted more; the auction clears at 4.834% with strong demand; TLT below $82
6 Asia sells the oil, not the chips: Kospi 7,043 after a morning drop to 6,961, SK hynix +0.2%, Advantest +2.7%, Tokyo Electron −2.3%, Hong Kong −1.3% with Alibaba −3.2%, Australia −1.4%
7 Our indices on Wednesday’s closes: Rubin +0.1% (Systems +3.4%, Substrates +2.4%, Memory +2.0% against Thermal −3.1%), Agentic Winners −1.9%, HALO −1.8%, Euro-AI −1.8%, AEI +0.1%
8 Print record: Zscaler graded sold at −6.6%, Samsara flat at −0.3% — Oracle reports tonight from $161.70 with an 11% move priced, Adobe from $254.86 after falling on ten of its last twelve reports
9 Gold $4,463 after GLD +0.9%, silver +2.3%, bitcoin $78,500 holds the $78,000 line, dollar 98.7 — S&P futures +0.2%, Nasdaq futures +0.1%
10 Thursday’s clock: ECB decision with a quarter-point to 2.50% priced, US producer prices and jobless claims at 12:30 UTC, the $6 billion Treasury buyback, Oracle and Adobe after the close — then CPI Friday, the Fed on Tuesday and Wednesday, the BoJ next Thursday and Friday
Chips lead the market down as oil tops $105 and the 10-year hits 4.92%: Micron −4%, Intel −4%, Nvidia −2.5% — while software posts its first up day in six and Apple gains 3%
1 ETF board: chips lead the market down — SOXX −2.0%, SMH −1.8%, tech −1.0% — while software posts its first gain in six sessions at +0.5% and cyber +0.8%; energy falls with oil at $105
2 The memory names give it back: Micron −4.3% under $1,000, Intel −4.4%, SanDisk −4.0%, Western Digital −3.9%, Arm −3.5%, Astera −3.2%, AMD −2.7%, Nvidia −2.5% at $218
3 Software turns before the prints: IGV +0.5% after five down days, ServiceNow +2.1%, Salesforce +0.6%, Datadog +0.5%, Shopify +0.3% — Cloudflare and Meta hold Wednesday’s gains, Apple +2.7% after its event
US producer prices for August rose 0.4% from July and 5.4% from a year earlier, the fastest annual rate since May, while the core measure rose only 0.2%. The print lands with Brent above $100 for the first close since July, the 10-year Treasury yield at 4.86%, the ECB raising its deposit rate to 2.50% as expected, and the Federal Reserve meeting next Tuesday and Wednesday with a quarter-point increase priced at roughly 60%.