U S stocks drift lower as oil prices rise and inflation worries persist

U.S. stocks are drifting lower Tuesday, a day after returning from a three-day weekend. The S&P 500 fell 0.4%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 517 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq composite declined 0.2%. The market felt pressure from rising oil prices, with a barrel of Brent crude briefly climbing to $99.46 before settling at $97.05. Increased fighting in the Middle East has constrained the global flow of oil, pushing prices up from around $72 since early July.

Economic concerns are heightened by upcoming inflation reports, with the wholesale level report expected on Thursday and the consumer-level report on Friday. Economists predict the wholesale report will show an acceleration to 5.4% from 4.7% in July, while the consumer report is expected to ease slightly to 3.3% from July’s 3.4%. These updates will influence the Federal Reserve’s decision next week on whether to cut, raise, or hold interest rates steady.

On Wall Street, Boston Scientific fell 4.6% due to a network outage caused by a cybersecurity incident, and Novartis shares tumbled 13.9% after a discouraging update on a therapy for myotonic dystrophy type 1. Qualcomm, however, helped limit the market’s losses with a 2.9% rise after announcing a deal with Amazon for large-scale AI data centers.

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