Stocks Finish Mixed as Bond Yields Fall and Chipmakers Slide

Stocks closed mixed on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq 100 falling to a 1.5-week low despite the broader market being supported by lower US bond yields. The 10-year T-note yield dropped to 4.65% following a Treasury announcement to boost liquidity and double buybacks for longer-dated nominal coupon securities. However, chipmaker and AI-infrastructure stocks continued to underperform, dragging down the Nasdaq 100.

Meanwhile, Moderna saw a surge of over +176% after announcing positive results from a personalized cancer vaccine trial with Merck & Co. The US Treasury's intervention in bond markets is seen as a positive signal for gold. US mortgage applications fell, with purchase mortgage applications down and refinancing applications up. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage remained unchanged.

Fed officials indicated that policy tightening might be necessary if inflation does not decline, with high uncertainty in inflation outlooks. The Iran-Iraq conflict continued to weigh on oil prices, with September WTI crude oil prices rising more than +1%.