NEW YORK, June 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks suffered heavy losses on Wednesday, as renewed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East drove up oil prices and investors' concerns over inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 953.33 points, or 1.87 percent, to 49,918.78. The S&P 500 sank 119.66 points, or 1.62 percent, to 7,266.99. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 509.32 points, or 1.98 percent, to 25,169.50.
Eight of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors closed in negative territory, with industrials and materials leading the declines at 3.41 percent and 2.45 percent, respectively. Consumer staples and energy were the top performers, rising 1.69 percent and 1.46 percent.
Oil prices climbed up after the United States launched "self-defense strikes" against Iran the previous night. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery gained 1.83 U.S. dollars, or 2.07 percent, to settle at 90.03 dollars per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for August delivery added 1.65 dollars, or 1.8 percent, to settle at 93.10 dollars per barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
The U.S. consumer price index rose 4.2 percent year on year in May, marking its highest level since May 2023, as energy prices remained high, according to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday.
Notably, the energy index for May increased 3.9 percent month on month, accounting for over 60 percent of headline inflation. Gasoline and fuel oil prices increased 40.5 percent and 58.9 percent year on year, respectively, in May.
"The data were largely in line with consensus and core inflation came in a tick below expectations on a month-on-month basis at 0.2 percent," said Shawn Snyder, economic strategist at Potomac Fund Management. "That said, inflation has been above the Fed's target for over five years now and is trending in the wrong direction. It is hard to envision the president's desired rate cuts against this backdrop."
Moreover, the technology sector continued to face pressure amid an ongoing rotation out of the AI trade, fueled by concerns surrounding the upcoming mega-IPOs of OpenAI and Anthropic. Investors also awaited Oracle's quarterly results after the market close, focusing particularly on its cloud business performance given its ties to major AI customers.
The main event of the week remains Friday's highly anticipated public debut of Elon Musk's SpaceX, which is expected to be the largest initial public offering in history.
