U.S. equities declined Wednesday as crude oil prices and government bond yields climbed, with the Nasdaq Composite falling about 0.9% and the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average each losing roughly 0.5%. Strong U.S. business activity data, at its highest level in more than five years, increased concerns that inflation could remain persistent and that the Federal Reserve may keep interest rates elevated. Rising yields can weigh especially heavily on technology and growth stocks by reducing the present value of future earnings and making government securities more attractive. Meta’s shares advanced again after rising more than 11% earlier in the week, lifting the stock more than 20% since the Muse AI platform debuted on September 8 and adding about $200 billion to its market capitalization. Muse recorded roughly 2.8 million downloads in the United States and Canada during its first 12 days, with potential monetization avenues including subscriptions, advertising partnerships and commerce integrations. NYSE Group and Blockchain.com also announced a preliminary partnership to explore tokenized versions of U.S.-listed equities and ETFs for Blockchain.com users. Bitcoin briefly reached about $87,300 before retreating into an $85,000-to-$86,000 range, while higher Treasury yields and a stronger U.S. dollar created a more difficult backdrop for risk assets. Coinbase introduced a fixed-rate lending service that lets qualified users borrow USDC against Bitcoin collateral without selling their holdings. The day’s trading reflected competing forces, with higher yields pressuring equity valuations while artificial intelligence, crypto-market innovation and Bitcoin’s recent gains supported selected areas of risk appetite.