Wall Street falls as AI debt costs and hot inflation weigh on stocks

Wall Street closed lower on Tuesday, dragged down by worse-than-expected inflation data and fresh concerns over debt levels among artificial intelligence operators. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.09%, the Nasdaq dropped 1.88%, and the S&P 500 lost 1.11%. September's consumer price index showed a 3.7% year-over-year rise, above forecasts and August's figure, with core inflation accelerating to 2.6%. This reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve's September rate hike was not an isolated event, with analysts anticipating at least one more increase by year-end. AI data center builder CoreWeave plunged 15.46% on worries about its $35 billion debt load, with yields on its 2031 and 2032 bonds reaching 15%. Rival Nebius fell 10.08%, Oracle lost 8.82%, and Nvidia declined 3.16% amid rising financing costs for AI infrastructure.