Stocks slide again as Treasury yields push higher, Oracle leads Nasdaq lower

Stocks fell on Thursday as Treasury yields kept marching higher, with traders anticipating further rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. A pullback in Oracle weighed on tech.

The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.8%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 349 points, or 0.7%. The S&P 500 was down 0.5%.

Oracle shares sank more than 5% after Bloomberg News reported, citing sources, that the company was citing force majeure in order to protect itself from a data center project being built in New Mexico if it is delayed.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield touched 5.446%, a level not seen since June 2004. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield, which is tied to rates on mortgages, surged to 5.15%, near levels not reached since July 2007. The 2-year note yield was flat on the day, but scaled to a 2023 high earlier in the week.

Those moves came as oil prices rose sharply. International Brent crude futures rose 1% to around $105 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude gained 1% to around $93.

As yields surged, so did the market’s anticipation of further rate hikes from central bank policymakers. Fed funds futures trading suggests a 66% likelihood that the Federal Reserve lifts its key rate once more in October, per the CME FedWatch tool. That compares to a roughly 55% probability just a week ago.

Higher bond yields tend to squeeze consumers’ finances as they face higher borrowing costs at a time when they’re already paying more in fuel costs.