Wall St falls as hot inflation data fuels rate-hike jitters

Wall Street experienced a decline on Tuesday, pausing an earlier two-day rebound in tech shares, as a hotter-than-expected October inflation reading raised concerns about the Federal Reserve potentially raising interest rates for a longer period. Fed Governor Christopher Waller suggested that a minimum 25 basis point increase in interest rates could be necessary for the next month, even if inflation cooled in October.

Traders are pricing in nearly a 99% chance of a rate hike in December, according to the CME FedWatch tool. James McCann, senior economist at Edward Jones, expressed concern over the potential for underlying price pressures to build again, prompting markets to contemplate more tightening. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 257.10 points, or 0.49%, to 52,132.65, while the S&P 500 fell 45.94 points, or 0.61%, to 7,504.00, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 188.00 points, or 0.74%, to 25,065.14.

Financial sectors showed a slight gain of 0.15%, while utilities and real estate lagged behind. Nine of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors closed in the red. Nvidia, the second-most valuable company globally, saw its shares slip by 4.4%, amid speculation surrounding CEO Jensen Huang's alleged relationship with a Chinese businesswoman and the shipment of at least $7.5 billion worth of Nvidia chips to China.

Attention has also shifted to Anthropic, an AI lab set to debut on the public market, which could disrupt competition for investors. CoreWeave, a neocloud firm, reported positive earnings after market close but faced scrutiny over its debt burden amid the AI boom. Media company Skydance dropped 9% following cost-cutting measures and warnings about a potential profit decline due to Warner Bros' film slate underperformance.

Despite some relief from declining oil prices, with Brent crude futures falling below $90 a barrel for the first time since August, issues outnumbered advancers on both the NYSE and Nasdaq.