Update: Wall Street Extends Losing Streak to Third Day Amid Middle East Tensions

04:45 PM EDT, 09/09/2026 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with market moves at the end of the day, and other changes, if any.) US stocks fell for the third straight session on Wednesday as heightened Middle East tensions sent oil prices higher, fanning inflation fears ahead of next week's Federal Reserve policy meeting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.8% lower at 52,380.66, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.6% to 26,253.34. The S&P 500 dropped 0.5% to 7,636.36. Except energy, all sectors ended in the red, led by industrials. Global oil price benchmark Brent was up 3.6% at $101.45 a barrel in Wednesday late-afternoon trade, breaching the $100 threshold for the first time since late July. West Texas Intermediate climbed 3.9% to $96.64. Iran said Wednesday it attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz -- a key crude and energy chokepoint, Reuters reported. Tehran reportedly launched ballistic missiles at a base used by US forces in Jordan. That followed American forces destroying five Iranian crude oil carriers in response to Tehran firing ballistic missiles at a US navy warship, the US Central Command said Tuesday. Yemen's Iran-allied Houthi group said Wednesday that Saudi-backed forces launched airstrikes overnight across four Yemeni provinces, the Associated Press reported. The Houthis previously struck civilian and economic sites in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, including Saudi Aramco's facilities. "Together, these developments point to continued supply tightness and an elevated risk of further price gains," Saxo Bank said Wednesday in a report. The average diesel price in the US hit a fresh record high at $5.9424 per gallon, up from Tuesday's $5.9012, according to data from AAA, a travel organization that tracks fuel prices in the world's biggest economy. The regular gas price rose to $4.2245 per gallon from $4.1514. The upward pressure on energy prices comes as markets await a new set of inflation data, with a report on wholesale prices for August due on Thursday, to be followed by consumer inflation numbers for the same month on Friday. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said late last month that the central bank should focus on its price stability mandate, in what came across as hawkish remarks amid concerns among other Fed officials over elevated inflation. "Rising oil prices raise the risk of further inflationary pressures coming down the pipeline, increasing the argument for the (Federal Reserve) to act sooner than later," Stifel Chief Economist Lindsey Piegza said Wednesday in a report e-mailed to MT Newswires. Markets are pricing in a 60% probability that the Fed will raise the benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points at next week's policy meeting, with the remaining odds pointing to another Fed pause, according to the CME FedWatch tool. Treasury yields were higher, with the 10-yield yield up 3.7 basis points at 4.84% and the two-year yield rising 2.9 basis points to 4.43%. The 10-year rate hit the highest level since November 2023 on Wednesday, CNBC reported, even as the US Treasury Department announced a plan to repurchase up to $6 billion in longer-term government bonds, triple the amount initially outlined to investors. Last month, the Treasury announced it was upsizing its liquidity support buyback operations for longer-dated securities by "at least double" to $4 billion per operation. Casey's General Stores (CASY) shares slid 14%, the worst performer on the S&P 500, as the convenience store operator's fiscal first-quarter same-store sales growth missed Wall Street's estimates, even though earnings and revenue topped expectations. Meta Platforms (META) has launched a new personal artificial intelligence agent called Muse AI, which can send emails, book travel plans and continue working after users close the app. Meta shares jumped 6.6%, the second-biggest gain on the S&P 500. Spot gold gained about 1% to $4,397.45 per troy ounce, while silver advanced 1.3% to $67.86 per ounce.