Finance

The yield on the 30-year Treasury note hit 5.13% on Friday, its highest closing level since July 2007. This spike was driven by growing concerns that $100-plus oil prices and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East will fuel long-term inflation, forcing the Federal Reserve to maintain or increase interest rates.

Artificial intelligence and chip stocks faced significant profit-taking, with Nvidia dropping 4.4% and newly public Cerebras Systems sliding 10% after its initial surge. Other major semiconductor players like Intel, Micron Technology, and AMD also saw losses exceeding 5% as higher interest rates pressured high-valuation growth sectors.

The Senate Banking Committee voted 15-9 to pass the Clarity Act, a major legislative step toward establishing a formal US regulatory framework for stablecoins and tokenization. While the news provided a regulatory tailwind, Bitcoin and Ethereum still struggled on May 15 due to broader macroeconomic pressures and rising yields.