This Week on Wall Street

U.S. stocks are on track for their third straight losing week-to-date session as of Wednesday's close, with the S&P 500 down 1.10% week-to-date to 7,636.36, the Dow Jones off 1.90% (1,033.59 points) to 52,380.66, and the Nasdaq Composite down 1.00% to 26,253.34 in the holiday-shortened week. Energy is the standout gainer as WTI crude jumped to about $97.19 a barrel on escalating Iran-linked tensions and Houthi strikes on Saudi energy facilities, while Healthcare has tumbled over 3% after Novartis disclosed back-to-back late-stage trial failures that dragged Amgen and other biotech names down with it, and Financials and Real Estate also lagged as rates climbed. Gold rose to roughly $4,390 an ounce as a safe-haven bid offset a firmer dollar, and the 10-year Treasury yield pushed up to about 4.85%, its highest since late 2023, while the VIX climbed 4.6% to 16.44 on the mix of geopolitical and rate-hike anxiety ahead of the Fed's next move. Attention now turns to this morning's Producer Price Index and earnings from Oracle and Adobe after today's close, Friday's critical August CPI report, and the following week's FOMC rate decision on September 16, where futures markets are pricing roughly a 58% chance of a hike.