Stock Market News From May 29, 2024: Dow Down 400 Points; American Airlines, Marathon Oil, Robinhood, Nvidia, Alibaba, DJT, and More Movers; Treasury Yields Rise (2024)

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The CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, was up 6%. Traders were reacting to uncertainty around the future path of interest rates.

Bond yields were higher, with the 10-year Treasury rising to 4.623%.

Marathon Oil stock was gaining after ConocoPhillips agreed to purchase the Houston producer for $22.5 billion.

After the bell, Salesforce is on tap to report earnings.

The stock market stumbled again on Wednesday as the big three indexes are struggling to close out an otherwise strong month.

The Dow was down about 411 points, or 1.1%. The S&P 500 was down 0.7%. The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.6%. The Nasdaq is still up more than 8% this month. The S&P 500 is up 4.6%. The Dow is up 1.7%.

Bond yields rose again, weighing on stocks broadly. The yield on the 2-year Treasury note was up to 4.983% while the 10-year yield was up to 4.623%.

Only about TK S&P 500 stocks closed higher on the day. All 11 major S&P 500 sectors fell on the same day for the first time since April 30.

The CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, jumped more than 6% to 13.72. Traders are unsure about the path forward for inflation, the economy, and how both will factor into the Federal Reserve’s upcoming interest rate decisions.

The personal consumption expenditures price index on Friday will be a key datapoint, but even progress on lowering inflation will need to sustain multiple reports in the months ahead before the Fed starts thinking about cuts.

Treasury yields rise after the Treasury auctioned seven-year notes at a yield of 4.65%, higher than the market yield at the time.

Investors worry that demand for Treasurys may not keep up with supply, pressuring yields higher.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal forecast weekly jobless claims tomorrow to rise to 218,000 from 215,000, which would be a sign of easing labor markets.

First-quarter GDP estimate is expected to be reduced to 1.2% from 1.6%. PCE inflation, due Friday, is expected to slow slightly.

The 10-year yield gains 0.081 percentage point to 4.623% and the two-year rises 0.032 p.p. to 4.983%. The seven-year is at 4.631%.

Crude futures lose ground in an up-and-down session with the market looking to tomorrow's U.S. inventories report and Sunday's OPEC+ meeting where the group will decide on the future of output cuts.

"Volatility is likely to continue through the rest of this week with the complex jostled by tomorrow's EIA report and Friday's PCE inflation guidance," Ritterbusch says in a note.

The EIA is expected to report a draw of 1.4 million barrels from crude stocks for last week, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of analysts. Gasoline stocks are seen down by 1 million barrels.

WTI settles down 0.8% at $79.23 a barrel and Brent falls 0.7% to $83.60.