US stocks today: Dow Jones drops over 500 points as Middle East tensions escalate
Wall Street stocks pulled back from record highs on Wednesday as flaring tensions in the Middle East and rising crude prices stoked inflation jitters and convinced investors to take some profits.All three major U.S. stock indexes closed in negative territory, dragged lower by financials and tech , with the small-cap Russell 2000 underperforming its larger-cap counterparts.Chips advanced, indicating the artificial intelligence fervor is alive and well. Still, most of the Magnificent Seven group of AI-related megacaps were lower."The AI names are trading on their own completely separate world, largely oblivious to macro and geopolitical risk, at least within reason," said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird in Louisville, Kentucky. "And so there's going to be a bid for those names, especially on days where everything else looks a little bit less attractive."The S&P Software & Services index declined. It has been battered in recent mon...