US Equity Indexes Fall in Midday Trading

12:37 PM EDT, 09/23/2026 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes fell in midday trading on Wednesday as oil prices and bond yields gained while traders awaited updates on a potential breakthrough in US-Iran relations ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Washington later today. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.1% to 26,944.1. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% to 51,561.9, while the S&P 500 declined by 0.7% to 7,712.7. Utilities and the consumer discretionary sectors led decliners, while the energy sector led the gainers. The US West Texas Intermediate crude oil contract gained 2.4% to $92.67 per barrel. US Treasury yields rose across the curve intraday, with the 10-year yield edging up 12.4 basis points to 5.09% and the 30-year rate 8.6 basis points to 5.39%. In economic news, US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, rose by 2.6 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 18, following a decrease of 1.0 million barrels in the previous week. Commercial crude oil stocks, excluding SPR inventories, rose by 3 million barrels following a 600,000-barrel decrease in the week prior, and compared to the 690,000-barrel decline expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. Gasoline stocks declined by 1.7 million barrels, compared to the 500,000-barrel increase expected in a Bloomberg survey. The September flash reading of manufacturing conditions from S&P Global rose to a 52-month high of 57 compared with 53.9 in August and an expected reading of 53.7 in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. US mortgage applications fell 1.5% for the week ending September 18, compared with a decline of 4.1% in the week prior, as the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate increased to 7.12% from 6.97% over the same period. In company news, McDonald's (MCD) said Wednesday it will provide $8.5 billion in support to franchisees through 2036 to accelerate restaurant modernization, technology deployment, and operational improvements. Unit expansion is expected to contribute 2.5% to systemwide sales growth in 2027 and moderate to around 2% by 2030, the company stated. Shares of McDonald's fell 6.1% around midday.