Steep AI Valuations and Escalating Middle East Tensions Weighed on Market Sentiment

Barry Adams
10 Jun, 2026
New York City

Wall Street indexes turned lower for the second session in a row on Wednesday amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. 

The S&P 500 index decreased 0.7%, and the tech-dominated Nasdaq Composite fell 1.2% amid worries that energy prices are likely to remain elevated because of the prolonged shutdown in the Strait of Hormuz.

The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil turned volatile and jumped as high as 1% before settling down 0.08% to $88.12. 

The U.S. launched air strikes in Iran following the "yesterday's downing of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter by Iranian forces," said the U.S. Central Command. 

So far, Iran has directly not claimed responsibility for shooting down the U.S. helicopter, but the escalating tensions in the Middle East have stoked fears that Iran could ramp up its attacks on the U.S. military bases in Kuwait, Jordan, the UAE, and Bahrain.

Semiconductor and memory stocks led decliners following Tuesday's market rout as investors question rapid price increases over the last ten weeks in artificial intelligence stocks.

Nvidia, Intel, AMD, Marvell Technology, Broadcom, SanDisk, Micron Technology, and Wolfspeed dropped between 2% and 6%. 

 

Consumer Inflation Stayed Above Fed's Target Rate for Fifth Consecutive Year

The annual rate of consumer price inflation accelerated in May amid a persistent rise in energy prices. 

CPI accelerated to 4.2% in May from 3.8% in April, representing the third monthly acceleration in overall inflation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

The energy costs jumped to 23.5% in May from 17.9%, and gasoline costs soared 41% from the 28.4% rise in the previous month, respectively.

In addition, shelter inflation accelerated to 3.4% from 3.3%, and food prices advanced to 3.1% from 2.3% in the previous month, respectively. 

The core rate of inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, accelerated to 2.9% in May from 2.8% in April and stayed above the Federal Reserve's target rate of 2% for the fifth year in a row.

The core rate of inflation was below the Fed's target rate last time in February 2021 and surged as high as 9.1% in June 2022.

 

U.S. Movers 

Cracker Barrel jumped 9% to $39.49 after the Southern country-style restaurant chain operator reported financial results for its fiscal third quarter ending on May 1 and lifted its full-year outlook. 

Total revenue decreased 2.9% to $797.4 million from $821.2 million, net income in the quarter rose to $42.8 million from $12.6 million, and diluted earnings per share advanced to $1.90 from 56 cents a year ago. 

The latest quarter's net income includes a $47.4 million benefit related to a settlement agreement regarding interchange fee litigation. 

Comparable store restaurant sales decreased 2.6%, and comparable store retail sales declined 1.8% from a year ago, respectively. 

The company's Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of 25 cents payable on August 12 to shareholders on record on July 17. 

The company revised its fiscal 2026 total revenue estimate to a new range between $3.27 billion and $3.30 billion, up from the previous estimated range of $3.24 billion to $3.27 billion. 

The restaurant chain operator also revised higher its adjusted operating income range to between $120 million and $125 million from the previous guidance of between $85 million and $100 million. 

However, the company retained its full-year capital expenditure estimate between $105 million and $115 million.