More drops for AI stocks dragged the U.S. market to its worst day in nearly a month. The S&P 500 fell 1.2% Wednesday for its fourth straight drop, though it’s still not far from its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 228 points, and the Nasdaq composite dropped 1.8%. Slightly more stocks rose within the S&P 500 than fell, but they got drowned out by the drops for companies in the artificial-intelligence industry. Oil producers jumped with crude prices following President Donald Trump's latest escalation against Venezuela, while Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market.
President Donald Trump says he is ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro. The moves comes after U.S. forces last week seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast, an unusual move that followed a buildup of military forces in the region. In a post on social media Tuesday night announcing the blockade, Trump alleged Venezuela was using oil to fund drug trafficking and other crimes. The buildup has been accompanied by a series of military strikes on boats in international waters in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.