LIVE MARKETS-Oil up/Wall Street down: Hump day starts on a soft note

By Reuters News

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OIL UP/WALL STREET DOWN: HUMP DAY STARTS ON A SOFT NOTE

U.S. stocks-and-crude's seesaw tipped on Wednesday, as rising oil prices sent stocks lower and Treasury yields higher.

All three major U.S. equity indexes are lower, with small caps .RUT suffering a steeper percentage drop than their larger cap counterparts in the early going.

On the sector level, energy .SPNY and software & services .SPLRCIS are clear outperformers, while chips .SOX are on track to snap a six-day winning streak.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to arrive in Washington to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump for a three-day summit that promises to be high-stakes and tension-filled as the leaders of the world's two largest economies hash out trade, AI and Iran-related issues.

The U.S. and Iran engaged in their first talks in months, reigniting hope for progress toward ending the Iran war, which has sent crude prices soaring and rattled global markets since the opening salvo on February 28.

Even so, front-month WTI and Brent crude prices are both more than 1.5% higher, keeping broader inflationary jitters alive as markets grow accustomed to the new, global central bank policy tightening phase.

Today's Fed speakers include Board Governor Michael Barr this morning at the Chicago Fed, while the Chicago Fed's president, Austan Goolsbee, is expected to appear on the "Economics, Applied" podcast later in the session. Their comments will be pored over for any clues regarding the speed, extent and duration of interest rate hikes markets can expect.

On the economics front, September business activity expanded at a faster-than-expected pace, while 30-year fixed mortgage rates poked above the 7% level for the first time in over a year and a half.

Here's where things stood as of 10:00 a.m. EDT:

(Stephen Culp)

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