Die US-Märkte fallen unter 51.500 Punkte, die Ölpreise steigen auf 104 USD/Barrel

US stock markets fell on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.68 percent at 51,511.59 points, the S&P 500 shed 0.75 percent to 7,706.05 points, and the Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.85 percent to 30,470.29 points. The Nasdaq had previously closed with a rally, reaching a record high. Market uncertainty was heightened by rising oil prices, with Brent crude reaching $103.80 per barrel – a rise of up to 4.5 percent. Another risk stemmed from the Strait of Hormuz, where a cargo ship was attacked and set ablaze yet again. In a speech before the UN General Assembly, Iran emphasized that it would not allow shipping traffic in the region as long as sanctions remained in place, while maintaining that it is open to negotiations on a peace agreement without making any threats. At the same time, higher yields on US Treasuries weighed on the markets: the interest rate on five-year bonds surpassed the 5 percent mark for the first time since 2007. Oil prices thus remained a key driver of uncertainty, while the US economy continued to come under pressure from strong data and speculation about further interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve. Among individual stocks, McDonald’s fell the most, by 4.8 percent, after the company allocated $8.5 billion to franchisee payments and service improvements. Paychex lost 8.8 percent after the company reported lower-than-expected revenue in the first quarter. In the tech sector, IonQ rose 4.4 percent, after presenting a standard processor-based decoder for real-time quantum error correction – a milestone for the industry.