Oil prices touch lowest level in 3 months

An oil pump jack operates on Lake Maracaibo in Cabimas, Venezuela. (Ariana Cubillos/AP/file)

NEW YORK — The U.S. stock market is under pressure Nov. 10 after a report showed inflation was worse across the country last month than economists expected.

Oil prices continue to decline, with Brent crude falling below $91 per barrel, the lowest level in three months. The declines came after President Donald Trump said that the war in Iran “militarily is effectively over,” a week after American voters, angered by skyrocketing costs, handed both chambers of Congress to Democrats in midterm elections.

READ MORE: Gasoline prices drop below $4 for first time since July

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil sank 3.1% to $89.67. Brent’s price has been falling from more than $112 at the start of the month amid uncertainty about what will happen with the war with Iran.

The S&P 500 fell 0.6% and gave back some of its big rally from the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 154 points, or 0.3%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% lower.

Pressure from the bond market undercut stocks following the discouraging report on inflation. People had to pay prices for groceries, electricity and other costs of living that were even higher last month than economists expected. That could push the Federal Reserve to hike its main interest rate at its next meeting in December and beyond.

Higher interest rates can help rein in inflation, but they do so by making it more expensive for everyone to borrow money and by slowing the overall economy. Higher rates also make investors less willing to pay high prices for stocks and other investments.

One Fed official even hinted the central bank may increase the federal funds rate by double the typical amount next month because of how high inflation has remained for years.

Speaking in London before the inflation report was released, Fed Gov. Christopher Waller said “a stronger policy move may be needed” if the report showed an important underlying measure of inflation rose by 0.3% from September.

In that case, he said the Fed should consider hiking the federal funds rate by half a percentage point rather than the typical quarter point. Moving by only the usual amount “would put our credibility at risk, a risk I am not eager to take.”

Shortly afterward, the inflation report showed that the underlying measure of inflation Waller was worried about was exactly 0.3%, the threshold he had set.

That sent yields jumping in the bond market as traders upped their forecasts for coming hikes to rates by the Fed.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury jumped to 4.97% from 4.88% late Nov. 9. That’s a notable move for the bond market, and the yield helps set where rates are for mortgages and other loans going to U.S. households and businesses.

The 10-year Treasury yield had been dropping since early October, when it topped 5.30% as worries spiked about high inflation, higher interest rates, the U.S. government’s big debt and other concerns.

The Nov. 10 jump in yields came even though oil prices fell again. 

Jumps in Treasury yields push downward on prices for all kinds of stocks, and they typically most affect those seen as the most expensive. That’s keeping the focus on stocks tied to the artificial intelligence boom, which soared to records in the frenzy around AI despite criticisms that they were in a bubble.

Nvidia fell 3.8% and was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500. The chip company has also been dealing with issues unrelated to the rest of the AI industry after its CEO, Jensen Huang, admitted to a relationship with a woman who, according to The New York Times, U.S. intelligence determined was gathering information for China.

Other stocks in the AI industry dropped as well. Micron Technology, which sells memory for computers, sank 3.2%. GE Vernova, which is helping to power AI data centers, dropped 5.9%.

AP Writers Elaine Lai and Matt Ott contributed to this report.