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Oil tops $100 and inflation worries drag Wall Street lower

Brent settled at $101.21 a barrel and WTI at $96.05, while U.S. 10-year Treasury yields rose to 4.841% after the Treasury raised a bond buyback to as much as $6 billion.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Trade & Tariffs

Wall Street closed lower on Wednesday as oil prices stayed above $100 a barrel and investors weighed renewed inflation concerns tied to Gulf tensions, Reuters reported. All three major U.S. indices fell, with the Dow down 0.77%, the S&P 500 down 0.48%, and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.64%.

Brent crude settled up 3.4% to $101.21 a barrel, its highest closing level since May, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate was up $3.02, or 3.25%, at $96.05, also at its highest close since May, according to the report. The move followed headlines on Iran, which said it attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. sank five Iranian oil tankers.

In rates, yields on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 3.66 basis points to 4.841%, levels not seen since November 2023, after the Treasury Department said it would buy up to $6 billion in 10-to-20-year government bonds, higher than an earlier $4 billion signal. The report said some analysts expected a larger purchase to support longer duration bonds.

Foreign exchange and central bank expectations also came into focus, with the euro edging higher ahead of the European Central Bank policy decision and markets broadly expecting a rate hike. Meanwhile, the yen strengthened toward a nearly seven-month high as traders exited short positions, and traders are looking ahead to U.S. producer and consumer price data later in the week, Reuters added.

Latest closeWTI crude $97.01 ▲4.3%|Brent $102.05 ▲4.2%|S&P 500 7,636.36 ▼0.5%

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