{"id":72152,"date":"2026-09-23T16:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T20:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/market-sell-off-deepens-as-oil-surges-and-fed-rate-hike-fears-intensify\/72152\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T16:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T20:38:11","slug":"market-sell-off-deepens-as-oil-surges-and-fed-rate-hike-fears-intensify","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/market-sell-off-deepens-as-oil-surges-and-fed-rate-hike-fears-intensify\/72152\/","title":{"rendered":"Market Sell-Off Deepens as Oil Surges and Fed Rate Hike Fears Intensify"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>U.S. equities closed sharply lower<\/strong> with the <strong>Nasdaq Composite<\/strong> dropping <strong>1.18%<\/strong> to <strong>26,922.95<\/strong>, while the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/indices\/sp500\/today\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"snp500 today\">S&amp;P 500<\/a><\/strong> fell <strong>0.80%<\/strong> as inflation fears resurfaced.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Brent <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/energy\/crude-oil\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"12\" title=\"Crude oil\">Crude oil<\/a> settled near $103 a barrel<\/strong>, driven by geopolitical tensions in the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong> and potential U.S. diesel export limits.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Treasury yields approached two-decade highs<\/strong> following a weak <strong>$70 billion five-year auction<\/strong> and hawkish signals from Fed Governor <strong>Michael Barr<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>China reportedly seized sensitive F-35 stealth aircraft parts<\/strong> after a <strong>UPS (<a href=\"\/stock\/UPS\">UPS<\/a>)<\/strong> flight was inexplicably diverted to Hong Kong.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The U.S. rejected global AI governance<\/strong> at the UN, even as domestic lawmakers like <strong>John Thune<\/strong> push for new safety guardrails.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>U.S. stocks and Treasuries faced a wave of selling on Wednesday as a &quot;perfect storm&quot; of hawkish Federal Reserve rhetoric, surging energy prices, and geopolitical instability rattled investors. The <strong>Nasdaq<\/strong> led the decline, falling over <strong>321 points<\/strong>, while the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/indices\/dowjones\/today\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Dow Jones Today\">Dow Jones<\/a> Industrial Average<\/strong> shed <strong>0.69%<\/strong> to close at <strong>51,503.27<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Market participants are increasingly pricing in <strong>two additional interest rate hikes<\/strong> this year. This shift follows comments from Fed Governor <strong>Michael Barr<\/strong> regarding the need for further tightening and a report of the strongest U.S. business activity since 2021, which suggests the economy may still be running too hot for the central bank&#39;s comfort.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brent Crude<\/strong> prices remained elevated around <strong>$103 per barrel<\/strong> after <strong>Iran\u2019s President<\/strong> warned that Tehran would not allow freedom of navigation through the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong> under the current U.S. blockade. Adding to supply concerns, the U.S. government is reportedly discussing voluntary limits on diesel exports with refiners to bolster domestic supplies.<\/p>\n<p>In a significant national security development, the <strong>Chinese government<\/strong> has taken possession of sensitive <strong>F-35 stealth aircraft components<\/strong>. The parts, which included a cockpit canopy and weapons-bay door, were being transported by <strong>UPS (<a href=\"\/stock\/UPS\">UPS<\/a>)<\/strong> from Australia to the U.S. for repair when the flight was diverted to <strong>Hong Kong<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The debate over <strong>Artificial Intelligence<\/strong> reached the <strong>UN Security Council<\/strong>, where U.S. Envoy <strong>Michael Kratsios<\/strong> rejected attempts to create a global regulatory scheme. Kratsios argued that there is &quot;no reason to pause&quot; AI advancement, contrasting with calls from <strong>France<\/strong> and the <strong>UK<\/strong> for a common international framework to manage existential risks.<\/p>\n<p>On the corporate front, <strong>H.B. Fuller (<a href=\"\/stock\/FUL\">FUL<\/a>)<\/strong> shares faced scrutiny after the company issued FY adjusted EPS guidance of <strong>$4.70-$4.85<\/strong>, slightly trailing the <strong>$4.85<\/strong> analyst estimate. Despite the cautious outlook, the company posted a Q3 EPS beat of <strong>$1.52<\/strong> against the <strong>$1.47<\/strong> expected by the market.<\/p>\n<p>Fixed income markets saw significant volatility as the <strong>$70 billion five-year Treasury auction<\/strong> met with weak demand. The poor auction results, combined with robust economic data, pushed yields toward levels not seen in nearly twenty years, further weighing on growth-oriented technology stocks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways U.S. equities closed sharply lower with the Nasdaq Composite dropping 1.18% to 26,922.95, while the S&amp;P 500 fell [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[665,3806,3807,3808,8588],"class_list":["post-72152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-clf","tag-spy","tag-qqq","tag-dia","tag-us10y"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}