Stocks Slip as Oil Spikes and Nvidia’s Latest Beat Still Leaves Wall Street Cold

CNBC, Investor’s Business Daily, AP, Reuters, and Market Watch contributed to this report.

Wall Street lost its footing on Thursday after oil prices jumped again and Treasury yields started climbing, squeezing the market from both sides. Nvidia tried to give tech another lift, but even a monster earnings beat was not enough to keep investors interested.

The S&P 500 fell 0.3%, the Nasdaq slipped 0.4%, and the Dow was down 70 points, or 0.1%. Not a meltdown, but enough to keep the mood shaky after Wednesday’s rebound.

Oil was the big headache. West Texas Intermediate rose 3% to $102 a barrel, while Brent climbed 3% to $108 after Reuters reported that Iran’s supreme leader had ordered enriched uranium to stay in the country. That made the odds of a breakthrough with Washington look worse, and traders immediately started pricing in more inflation pressure.

Treasury yields moved higher right behind oil. The 10-year Treasury note rose 4 basis points to 4.615%, and the 30-year yield added 2 basis points to 5.14%. Higher yields are bad news for stocks in general, and especially for growth names that depend on cheap money and a rosy future.

That is where Nvidia comes in. The chip giant beat Wall Street’s expectations again and lifted its forecast, but the market barely blinked. Shares were still down more than 1%, which says a lot about how spoiled investors have become. Big beats are now treated like the floor, not the ceiling.

Nvidia also boosted its quarterly dividend to 25 cents, but that did not really change the mood. Investors seem to want even more than huge earnings, higher guidance and giant buybacks. At this point, “more” almost starts to mean “unrealistic.”

The pressure is not just coming from energy and rates. Walmart fell hard after its own report, while Intuit tumbled after cutting its outlook and announcing layoffs. On the other hand, Ralph Lauren had a strong day, and IBM jumped after the Trump administration backed quantum computing firms with investment deals.

The larger picture is still the same. Stocks have been riding a long AI-fueled run, but now they are running into a mess of higher oil, stickier inflation and a market that is starting to wonder how much good news is already priced in. For now, even Nvidia cannot muscle through that.