* The major indexes diverged, with the Dow down 0.2 percent;
* ExxonMobil hits record high as oil prices soar
*Meta released a new generation of VR headsets, the Quest 3, starting at $499.
U.S. stocks swung lower in early trading Wednesday, with the three major indexes falling more than 1% at one point, as rising crude oil and U.S. Treasury yields weighed on market sentiment and bottomed out near the end of the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 68.61 points, or 0.20 percent, to 33,550.27, the Nasdaq rose 0.22 percent to 13,092.85 and the S&P 500 rose 0.02 percent to 4274.51.
Market overview
Commerce Department data showed overall durable goods orders in August turned positive to 0.2% from -5.6% in the previous month, beating market expectations, while core durable goods orders rose to 0.4% from 0.1%. Machinery orders have risen in four of the past five months and were up 0.5 percent month-on-month, driving the overall increase, the Commerce Department said. New orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched measure of business investment, rose 0.9 percent from the previous month to $73.92 billion.
Medium - and long-term Treasury yields continued to move higher, as crude oil prices surged and investors worried about the Federal Reserve's policy rates staying higher for longer. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.63 percent, its highest since 2007, while the 2-year note, which is closely linked to interest rate expectations, was at 5.14 percent late in the day.
Greg Bassuk, CEO of AXS Investments, said: "Inflation remains the biggest concern. "Investors are very concerned not only about rising interest rates, but how it will affect companies with higher borrowing costs."
Jeffrey J.Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial, said the combination of soaring energy prices, the restart of student loan payments and a looming government shutdown over an impasse in Congress over the budget deficit will cause market volatility, so the Fed may be more patient and cautious in its assessment of the economy. "The current dynamics support our basic view that a recession could begin by the end of the year or early next year if consumers pull back on spending."
The world is also watching developments in the U.S. government shutdown crisis. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer announced that leaders of both parties had reached an agreement on a "temporary solution." However, the bill was vetoed by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, leaving the House Republican majority deeply divided and the demands of hardline conservative Republicans wielding outsize influence in moving the agenda forward.
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler told a House Financial Services Committee hearing Wednesday that a government shutdown would force the furlough of about 93 percent of the agency's staff, leaving teams unable to conduct basic market surveillance. The SEC can still accept tips and complaints from the public, but there will be no staff to follow up on these issues unless they involve an emergency that poses an imminent and significant threat to the protection of property.
In the market, the energy sector surged 2.5% to lead the way, with Marathon Oil up more than 4% and ExxonMobil up 3.3% to an all-time high close.
Meta fell 0.4% after the company officially unveiled its next-generation VR headset, the Quest 3, at its Connect developer conference. It will start at $499, $200 more than its predecessor, and will be available for pre-order on Wednesday and ship on Oct. 10. Other star tech stocks were mixed, with Google up 1.5 percent, Microsoft up 0.2 percent, Amazon flat and Apple down 0.9 percent.
Shares rose 1.9 percent after the retailer's latest quarterly revenue and profit beat market expectations.
Ford Motor fell 0.4 percent and General Motors rose 0.3 percent after falling nearly 1 percent earlier in the session. The United Auto Workers union plans to expand its strike at three Detroit auto plants on Friday if labor talks do not make significant progress, sources said.
China concept shares were mixed, with Vipshop up 4.4%, Pinduoduo up 1.1%, Alibaba and Baidu up less than 0.5%, JD.com down 0.3%, and iQiyi and NetEase down more than 1%.
International oil prices rose sharply, the United States Energy Information Administration data showed that last week, the United States crude oil inventories hit nearly a year low. The front-month WTI crude was up 3.64 percent at $93.68 a barrel, while the front-month Brent crude was up 2.76 percent at $96.55 a barrel.
The dollar index rose nearly 0.7 percent to near 107, its highest level in nearly 10 months. International gold prices fell sharply, with COMEX gold futures for September delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange down 1.52 percent at $1,871.60 an ounce.