U.S. stocks ended mixed as buzz about AI products propelled large tech companies to more record highs even as energy inflation fears lingered.

Oil prices moved lower after Japan's Kyodo News Agency reported that Iran proposed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. lifts its blockade. The auction, which saw the notes sell at a yield of 4.787%, comes as investors brace for rising interest rates after hawkish communication from Federal Reserve officials followed a rate increase last week. Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin warned that temporary shocks spurring inflation this year could drag on and new cost pressures could develop.

Meta's Muse Jumps to the Top of the Apple Store-and Triggers a Panic in the Stock Market Tuesday's selloff echoes the garden-variety selloffs earlier this year, driven by anxiety over AI displacing traditional industries. The European Commission's flash consumer-confidence indicator for the 21-nation currency area fell 1.0 point to minus 16.5 in September. The agreement comes as persistent geopolitical shocks and tariffs underscore the need to look for new trade partners. Beijing is courting Taiwan's opposition-and quietly helped stage its leader's landmark visit to the mainland-to pull the island into its orbit.

The government borrowed more in August than a year earlier, a setback for its plans to reduce its deficit as it prepares to outline a new budget next month. One pool of multifamily apartment mortgages issued in 2021 is already 53% delinquent. With its Red Sea bypass route disrupted by attacks from Yemen and Iraq, the world's oil kingpin is returning to the waterway it was trying to avoid in the first place. Masoud Pezeshkian is expected to speak at the United Nations on Wednesday, giving him a platform to rail against the U.S. and try to sway the world to Iran's side. The century-old Rand Refinery, long the go-to destination for Africa's commercially mined gold, is trying to integrate often-problematic artisanal gold into its supply.