Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] Things feel uneasy today, primarily because stocks retreated at the open, bothered by the spike in Treasury yields that followed today's September CPI report. The uneasy feeling has gotten more pronounced, though, with stocks steadily sliding to session lows as Treasury yields have steadily dropped from session highs.

The 10-yr note yield spiked from 5.17% to 5.32% immediately after the CPI report, but it has since backed down to 5.22%. The S&P 500, for its part, is down 1.4% and has broken below the 7,700 level.

An ugly showing by the semiconductor stocks, not just today but over the course of the past six sessions in which the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has dropped 11.6%, has been an additional weight on market sentiment.

The SOX Index is down 4.3% today, with concerns about AI financing costs and debt repayment capabilities exacerbating the retreat. AI/data center infrastructure company CoreWeave (CRWV 64.92, -12.90, -16.57%) is at the heart of those concerns. It is getting hit hard, with Bloomberg reporting that its unsecured debt due in 2032 has fallen to levels that typically indicate distress, which Elon Musk summed up simply when he said "yikes."

The CBOE Volatility Index is up 10.9% to 16.93.