(Updates with index/price moves and geopolitical news from the first paragraph.)
US equity indexes fell amid declines in mega-cap semiconductor names while the 10-year benchmark government bond yield crossed 5% as crude oil prices extended gains.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.6% to 26,146.41, the S&P 500 declined 0.5% to 7,619.98, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.3% to 52,421.20 on Monday. Technology led decliners while communication services was among a trio of gainers.
Dario Amodei, chief executive of AI chatbot Claude maker Anthropic, called on the industry Saturday to slow the pace of developing AI model capabilities. His three-step plan to ensure that safety measures keep pace with advances in AI model capabilities includes placing independent evaluators inside leading AI companies with "employee-like access." OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX (SPCX) CEO Elon Musk supported Amodei's call in posts on X.
President Donald Trump, however, pushed back against any idea of new AI guardrails and criticized Amodei's call for restraint, Bloomberg reported. In a category of stocks with market capitalization exceeding $200 billion, Micron Technology (MU), SK Hynix (SKYH), and ASML (ASML) were among the bottom 10 on Monday, according to data compiled by Finviz.
Iran wants to reach a deal with Washington, Trump said Monday. "The failing Nation of Iran wants to make a deal, quickly and badly. I will determine whether or not the U.S.A. will choose to engage - The concept of which we are open to," Trump wrote in a social media post on Truth Social.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia seeks to further boost crude oil supply through the Strait of Hormuz after attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthi militia group forced it to halt a key pipeline that's been the main alternative route for getting its crude to global markets during the Iran war, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. The kingdom had been raising shipments through the contested Hormuz waterway in the first 10 days of this month from August levels, and is now trying to increase supplies further, the person told the news agency.
Gulf Arab states postponed a planned meeting with Iran, and Yemen's Houthis launched a fresh attack on Saudi Arabia, Reuters reported.
The front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil contract rose 1.8% to $101.84 per barrel, and the global benchmark North Sea Brent edged up 1.5% to $106.20 per barrel. Both crude types were off session highs.
Ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcements on Wednesday, interest rate traders are now pricing in a 95% probability that the Fed will raise its target rate by 25 basis points, up from 33% a month ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
US Treasury yields rose across the curve. After hitting a high of 5.01% intraday, the 10-year yield was up 1.9 basis points to 4.99% in the final leg.
In company news, Corning (GLW) said Friday it entered into an equity distribution agreement to sell its common stock from time to time, with an aggregate offering price of up to $2 billion. Corning shares sank nearly 14%, the worst performer on the S&P 500.
In precious metals markets, gold futures dropped 1.6% to $4,337.3, and silver futures slumped 2.3% to $63.72.