Wall Street Joins Worldwide Stock Slump05/31 09:53

   Stocks are slipping on Wall Street Wednesday as worries rise about the 
strength of the global economy and a frenzy around artificial intelligence 
cools.

   NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks are slipping on Wall Street Wednesday as worries 
rise about the strength of the global economy and a frenzy around artificial 
intelligence cools.

   The S&P 500 was 0.7% lower in morning trading. The Dow Jones Industrial 
Average was down 228 points, or 0.7%, at 32,814, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, 
while the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% lower.

   Stock markets in Asia fell even more following discouraging data on 
manufacturing from China. The world's second-largest economy has not been 
rebounding as strongly as many investors had hoped. That raises worries when 
economies around the world are contending with still-high inflation and much 
higher interest rates than a year earlier.

   Wall Street has been able to weather such concerns pretty well recently, 
largely because of big gains for large tech companies and others getting swept 
up in the buzz around AI. The S&P 500 is still on track to squeeze out a modest 
gain for May, which would be its third straight winning month.

   But some of the air seeped out of those big winners on Wednesday. Nvidia, 
whose chips are helping to power the surge into AI, dropped 2.1% and is heading 
for its first fall since it gave a monster forecast last week for upcoming 
sales. It's already more than doubled this year and was flirting with a total 
value of $1 trillion a day earlier.

   Advance Auto Parts plunged 32.2% after it reported much weaker profit for 
the latest quarter than analysts expected. The retailer also said it expects 
pressures to continue through 2023, and it cut its full-year financial forecast 
and reduced its dividend.

   Hewlett Packard Enterprise tumbled 7.2% after it reported weaker revenue for 
the latest quarter than expected. HP dropped 3.3% after its revenue likewise 
fell short of forecasts.

   Profits for companies across the S&P 500 were largely better than analysts 
feared for the first three months of the year. But they were still down from 
where they were a year earlier.

   They're grappling with an economy that's already begun to slow under the 
weight of interest rates that the Federal Reserve has jacked higher in hopes of 
getting inflation under control.

   Many traders are bracing for the Fed to raise rates again at its next 
meeting in two weeks, but the hope is that may be the last following a furious 
stretch where it hiked rates at every meeting for more than a year. Higher 
rates can undercut inflation, but by slowing the economy and hurting prices for 
investments.

   Several reports on the job market this week could sway the Fed's decision. 
One released Wednesday morning showed that employers advertised more job 
openings last month than expected. It's the latest signal of a job market 
that's remained remarkably resilient in the face of higher interest rates.

   While that's good news for workers and for the economy, it also gives the 
Fed more leeway to keep rates high.

   Other areas of the economy have shown much more pain due in part to higher 
rates. A report on Wednesday morning suggested manufacturing in the Chicago 
region is contracting by much more than economists feared. It's the latest 
region to report much weaker manufacturing than expected, raising worries for 
the broader economy.

   On Friday looms the U.S. government's comprehensive report on hiring across 
the economy. Economists expect it to show a slowdown in hiring and a tick 
higher in the unemployment rate.

   Bubbling behind all these worries is a still simmering drama in Washington 
about a potential default on the U.S. government's debt.

   President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are trying to wrangle 
enough votes to pass a deal they struck over the weekend to allow the U.S. 
government to borrow more money. They need an approval in place before the U.S. 
government runs out of cash to pay its bills, which could happen as soon as 
Monday. If they fail, a default could cause tremendous pain for the economy and 
financial markets.

   In stock markets abroad, the Hang Seng tumbled 1.9% in Hong Kong, while 
stocks fell 0.6% in Shanghai.

   Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 1.4%, while indexes fell 1.2% in France and 1% in 
Germany.

   In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.67% from 
3.70% late Tuesday. It helps set rates for mortgages and other important loans 
that influence the housing and other markets.

   The two-year yield, which moves more on expectations for Fed action, fell to 
4.43% from 4.46%.