NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks tumbled Monday as US Treasury bond yields lurched higher, reflecting worries that inflation could be reigniting.
Markets reacted to a rise in oil prices amid Middle Eastern tension, while Friday's US jobs report showed an uptick in wages.
"This is a bit of an overhang from the jobs report," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer, Cresset Capital Management. "That's spurring some inflation concerns."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.9 percent at 41,954.24.
The broad-based S&P 500 declined 1.0 percent to 5,695.94, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.2 percent to 17,923.90.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note pushed above four percent for the first time since the Federal Reserve cut interest rates last month.
Among the 11 sectors in the S&P 500 only energy advanced, with the other 10 sectors ending in the red.
Chevron rose 0.3 percent as it announced a US$6.5 billion sale of Canadian assets to Canadian Natural Resources Limited.
Hershey dropped 2.2 percent following downgrades from UBS and Bernstein. Analysts have cautioned that profits will be pinched by higher cocoa costs.
This week's calendar includes the consumer price index report for September, as well as the first batch of third-quarter corporate earnings.
Delta Air Lines will report results on Thursday while JPMorgan Chase and other banks will report on Friday.