Oil Prices, Bond Yields Higher, Stocks Falter

Stocks fell on Wednesday as oil prices and Treasury yields moved higher amid worries the U.S.-Iran conflict could keep lifting inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrials were clobbered 417.14 points to 50,890.65.

The S&P 500 faded 42.81 points to 7,566.97.

The NASDAQ slipped 224.45 points to 26,869.45.

Declines in artificial intelligence-related stocks also weighed on the broader market. Nvidia lost more than 2%, while Dell Technologies and Oracle lost 5.5%. Microsoft also shed 2%.

Shares of U.S. private equity firms were a sore spot of the day, falling after Swiss-based private equity firm Partners Group announced it was capping investor withdrawals from one of its funds. KKR dropped 5%, while Blackstone declined 3%.

Late Tuesday, the Kuwait army said in a social media post that air defense systems were “intercepting hostile targets.”

U.S. Central Command later said that American forces defeated Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, and they also carried out “self-defense strikes” on Qeshm Island “in response to attempted attacks by Iran across the Middle East.”

President Donald Trump also said Iran agreed to not having nuclear weapons, but added “they can change their mind.”

Prices for the 10-year Treasury listed lower, raising yields back to Tuesday’s 4.50%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices strengthened $2.18 to $95.94 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices plummeted $51.00 to $4,468.90 U.S. an ounce.