the us oilprice benchmark pushed to a new 2023 high on wednesday rising oil prices lifted energy stocks wednesday during an otherwise downbeat session the sp 500’s energy sector gained 12 as texas crude contracts the us oilprice benchmark pushed to a new 2023 high settling at 8440 a barrel solid american fuel demand and international supply cuts have supported oil prices over the summer despite lagging consumption in china more broadly equities edged lower the sp 500 lost 07 and the dow jones industrial average gave up 19113 points or 05 to end at 3512336 the techfocused nasdaq composite shed 12 weighed down by sizable drops for major components such as nvidia tesla and facebook parent meta platforms those moves left intact the major indexes’ drop so far this month with trading shaded by renewed concerns that ripples from high interest rates are depressing stocks’ worth inflation has slinked lower alongside continued job gains in the labor market but many investors have worried that the federal reserve’s resolute antiinflation posture may damp equities’ momentum for one thing the fed’s rate increases over the last 15 months have brought a general risk of financial ruptures that threaten to scuttle economic growth said david kelly chief global strategist at jp morgan asset management “it’s been 15 years since we’ve had rates at these levels and we really don’t know whether there’s another shoe to drop” kelly said on the surface the banking distress sparked in march looks resolved but “we’re not really sure whether we’re completely out of the woods” kelly said higher rates can pinch stock prices because they offer savers juicier returns on lowrisk securities such as treasury notes and certificates of deposit last thursday the yield on the benchmark 10year treasury note finished at its highest level so far this year with a slight retreat in the days since muted treasurymarket trading on wednesday brought the 10year yield slightly lower to 4011 from 4024 a day earlier yields fall as bond prices climb consumerprice data for july expected thursday morning will help shape the fed’s next move in september economists surveyed by the wall street journal are anticipating that core prices moved up 02 compared with june’s level a pace that when annualized would keep inflation slightly above the central bank’s 2 target fed watchers will also scour thursday morning’s weekly joblessclaims update and producerprice data due friday stubborn inflation in the months ahead could hold back stock prices even if it doesn’t prompt more fed rate hikes said kristy akullian senior investment strategist at blackrock’s ishares instead stocks could suffer if persistent price rises merely delay the central bank’s timetable for bringing rates lower again she said traders are now betting that the target fedfunds rate will end next year more than a full percentage point lower than its anticipated december 2023 level a handful of company updates prompted sizable wednesday stock moves penn entertainment a casino and gaming operator gained 91 after its tuesdayevening announcement of a sportsgambling alliance with walt disney co’s espn unit wework shares fell 39 to close at 13 cents a share after the officesharing company said that losses and dwindling cash threaten the fate of its business the company once privately valued at 47 billion is now valued at about 275 million overseas the stoxx europe 600 climbed 04 italian financials regained ground after the country’s government partially walked back plans for a heavy new tax on bank profits trading in milan lifted shares of two big banks intesa sanpaolo and unicredit 23 and 44 respectively