Stocks, oil fall as volatility hits Wall St

STOCKS fell in afternoon trading Wednesday as Wall Street underwent a bout of volatility, driven in part by big swings in technology companies.

The S&P 500 fell 0.7% as of 12:57 p.m. Eastern after falling more than 1% earlier. More than 85% of stocks in the benchmark index are down, and it has risen or fallen more than 1% on each of the past four days.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 243 points, or 0.7%, to 34,071 and the Nasdaq fell 0.4%. Small-company stocks, a gauge of confidence in economic growth, fell even more: the Russell 2000 index lost 1.4%.

Technology stocks have swung between gains and losses as investors reassess whether stocks have grown too expensive, particularly highpriced technology companies. Cisco Systems fell 2.8% and Apple fell 0.9%.

The market volatility comes as investors question the economy’s path forward, amid rising inflation and the ongoing impact from the virus pandemic. Bond yields have remained relatively stable since a sharp jump late last month that signaled concern that high inflation could linger longer than economists and investors had initially anticipated.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 1.52% from 1.53% late Tuesday. It was as low as 1.32% a little more than two weeks ago. The drop in bond yields weighed on banks, which rely on higher yields to charge more lucrative interest on loans. Bank of America fell 0.6%.

Energy prices are retreating after a strong rally that contributed to inflation fears. U.S. crude oil fell 2% and natural gas plunged 9.3%. The drop weighed on energy companies. Exxon Mobil fell 2.4%.

International markets also sold off, with exchanges in Japan, South Korea, Germany and France all dropping more than 1%.

Investors are grappling with a long list of uncertainties, and that could mean a more durable pullback in stocks than Wall Street has experienced so far this year, said Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.