Wall Street Slumps as Oil Prices Climb and Inflation Worries Persist

Wall Street opened lower on Tuesday as oil prices continued to rise and stoked worries about stubbornly high inflation.

The S&P 500 index fell by 0.4 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 164 points or 0.3 percent as of 10:51 am Eastern time.

Technology stocks were among the heaviest weights on the market with Nvidia falling 1.2 percent and Advanced Micro Devices dropping 2.9 percent.

The weak start to September follows a shaky but mostly positive month for Wall Street, where every major index notched monthly gains in August.

The ongoing sell-off in US government bonds is also putting pressure on the market with the yield on the 10-year Treasury rising to 4.77 percent from 4.75 percent late Monday.