[New York Stocks] Bond Yields Surge and Tech Profit-Taking Drive Weakness... Nasdaq Down 1.54%

Rising Inflation Fears Driven by High Oil Prices
30-Year Treasury Yield Surpasses 5.1% Again

As concerns over inflation driven by high oil prices intensified and global bond yields surged, the New York Stock Exchange closed lower across the board on May 15 (local time), with technology stocks—previously leading the artificial intelligence (AI) rally—seeing a wave of profit-taking sell-offs.

On this day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended trading at 49,526.17, down 537.29 points (-1.07%) from the previous session. The Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index closed at 7,408.50, dropping 92.74 points (-1.24%), while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 410.08 points (-1.54%) to finish at 26,225.14.

New York Stock Exchange. Provided by Yonhap News Agency

Recently, the New York stock market had maintained a strong upward trend for over a month, mainly led by technology stocks on the back of expectations for AI industry growth. However, on this day, concentrated profit-taking in these rapidly rising tech stocks led to a weakening of overall investor sentiment in the market.

In particular, major semiconductor stocks such as Nvidia (-4.42%), a leading AI chipmaker, as well as Micron (-6.69%), Intel (-6.18%), and AMD (-5.69%) suffered steep declines.

On the other hand, Microsoft rose by 3.05%, after Bill Ackman, the chairman of hedge fund Pershing Square, disclosed his share purchase in the company.

Soaring bond yields also weighed on the stock market. According to electronic trading platform Tradeweb, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note—a global bond benchmark—jumped 14 basis points (1bp=0.01 percentage point) from the previous session to 4.60% by the close of the New York Stock Exchange in Eastern Time.

The yield on the 2-year U.S. Treasury note, which is sensitive to monetary policy, rose by 9 basis points to 4.08%, and the 30-year U.S. Treasury yield increased by 11 basis points to reach 5.12%, crossing the 5.1% threshold once again.

Rapid increases in international oil prices further heightened market anxiety. As energy prices soared due to the aftermath of the U.S.-Iran war and mounting concerns over a prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, inflationary fears spread once more.

On this day, Brent crude futures closed at $109.26 per barrel, up 3.4% from the previous session, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures finished at $105.42 per barrel, up 4.2%.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.