By Noel Randewich and Niket Nishant
Sept 8 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 fell on Tuesday, with Salesforce and other software makers losing ground, while hostilities in the Middle East lifted oil prices and investors awaited inflation data that could affect the chances of an interest rate hike.
Salesforce shares slumped 4%, while ServiceNow and Intuit both declined about 5%. OpenAI's launch last Friday of its newest model, GPT-6 Astra, reignited speculation that AI could compete with services now offered
by specialized software companies.
The S&P 500 software and services index fell 1.5%, dropping for a second straight day.
"Astra has kind of reignited the software disruption fears and it's resumed that old trend that we got used to for a while, where semiconductor stocks and data center capex beneficiaries do well, while software stocks do poorly," said Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management.
Chipmakers rose, with Intel gaining almost 10%. Qualcomm added 2.8% after striking a deal with Amazon to develop custom AI chips.
Traders increased bets on an interest rate hike at the U.S. Federal Reserve’s September 15-16 meeting after the Labor Department reported last week that employers added far more positions than expected in August.
This week's producer and consumer price reports are seen as key data ahead of that decision, with policymakers looking for further evidence that inflation pressures are continuing to cool.
Traders see a 60% chance of an increase in interest rates at next week's Fed policy meeting, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
Apple fell 1.1% a day before an event at which it is expected to unveil its latest smartphone under new CEO John Ternus.
The S&P 500 was down 0.32% at 7,693.60 points.
The Nasdaq declined 0.12% to 26,474.89 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.99% at 52,885.53 points.
S&P VALUATION DOWN FROM JUNE
The S&P 500 has gained 12% in 2026, and it remains down about 1% from its record-high close on August 13.
The benchmark stock index is now valued at 19 times expected earnings, down from 21 in early June, according to LSEG data. That lower valuation reflects increased earnings expectations following a strong second-quarter reporting season.
Despite that increased earnings optimism, the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has remained an overhang on equities.
Oil prices touched a six-week high on Tuesday after Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen attacked Saudi energy facilities, setting oil installations ablaze and threatening a major expansion of the six-month-old Middle East war.
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz slowed, with Iran threatening on Monday to retaliate for any new U.S. attacks.
"The conflict between the United States and Iran is beginning to look less like a temporary disruption and more like a longer-term backdrop for markets," said Jeff DerGurahian, chief investment officer at loanDepot.
The S&P 500 energy index rose 0.8%, with Marathon Petroleum and Occidental Petroleum up 2% and 1%, respectively.
Elevated yields on risk-free U.S. Treasuries have in recent weeks made it less attractive for investors to take on the added risk of buying stocks.
Crypto stocks fell as bitcoin retreated from $80,000. Coinbase fell 2.4% while Strategy was down 3.7%.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones within the S&P 500 by a 1.9-to-1 ratio.
The S&P 500 posted four new highs and eight new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 45 new highs and 115 new lows.
(Reporting by Niket Nishant and Tharuniyaa Lakshmi in Bengaluru, and by Noel Randewich in San Francisco; Editing by Joyjeet Das and Rod Nickel)
