Stocks were hit Thursday by soaring oil prices, rising borrowing costs and worrisome earnings reports from two large technology companies.
The S&P 500, a benchmark for the U.S. stock market, tumbled around 1.2 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite sank more than 2 percent. Both indexes posted their largest one-day declines of the month.
Earning reports from tech giants Tesla and Alphabet in the second quarter fanned broader concerns in the market about runaway spending on artificial intelligence.
Alphabet said that it expects its spending to total between $195 billion and $205 billion in 2026, up around $15 billion from its forecast earlier this year. Its stock slid nearly 7 percent. Tesla’s profits of $1.1 billion fell short of investors’ estimates of $1.3 billion, sending its stock spiraling down around 14.5 percent.
Shares of other large tech companies like Intel, AMD and Amazon were also sharply lower on Thursday.
Investors also grappled Thursday with rising oil prices, as strikes on tankers in the Red Sea by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia group added to fears about the flow of oil out of the Middle East. That uncertainty pushed the global price of oil past $100 a barrel, the highest since May.
Shipping traffic has slowed to a trickle since the Houthi threat. Only 15 ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, according to Kpler, a maritime data firm. That was roughly in line with recent days, and well below prewar traffic levels of around 130 ships per day.
The conflict is widening at a vulnerable time for energy markets. Oil stockpiles are smaller than they were when U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran began at the end of February, and Ukrainian attacks have severely damaged Russian refineries, tightening supplies of transportation fuels like diesel.
Gas prices in the United States rose 3 cents on Thursday, to $4.09 a gallon, according to the AAA motor club. The national average price at the pump has risen 37 percent since the war began.
Gas prices usually trail crude oil increases or drops by a few days. Many of the world’s refineries are offline or producing less after sustaining damage in the Persian Gulf and Russia, straining fuel markets.
Another signal of market worry is the rising yield on the 10-year Treasury, which helps set borrowing rates for companies and consumers. On Thursday, the yield reached 4.7 percent, its highest level in a year.
As oil prices climb more steeply, the market is anticipating higher inflation, analysts at Deutsche Bank noted, pricing in “a more hawkish path for central banks.”
The European Central Bank held interest rates steady on Thursday, after raising them at its meeting in June. Investors’ attention is now turning to the Federal Reserve, which meets next week. Futures markets are implying a 36 percent chance of a rate increase when officials meet.
Jenny Gross, Shirin Hakim and Pranav Baskar contributed reporting.
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