Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch. Our afternoon update on today's market action news and analysis.

Good afternoon. Today is Wednesday, August 2nd I'm your host Kim Khan. Our top story in today's session.

The US government has withdrawn its offer to buy 6 million barrels of oil for the strategic petroleum reserve as crude prices continue to rise.

The Energy Department made the purchase offer on July 7th, saying it would pursue additional

repurchase opportunities as market conditions allow.

After the offer was withdrawn, a spokesperson said the department remains committed to its replenishment

strategy.

The government released a record 180 million barrels from the SPR in 2022 to raining gas prices that surged

after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It later said it would replenish the reserve

once prices were at or below 67 to 72 dollars per barrel, with 6.3 million barrels reportedly bought back in recent months.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm previously said it is definitely possible that the government

will ramp up SPR buying, but warned that a complete refill is unlikely anytime soon

Crude prices just saw their best monthly gain in more than a year with benchmark WtI trading above $80 per barrel.

Now a look at today's trading.

Stocks are lower with gross struggling as longer term rates rise.

The NASDAQ is down nearly 2%,

while the S&P 500 is off about 1% and the Dow is off more than half a percent.

The mega cap sectors are performing the worst, with Infotech the weakest,

health care is the only gainer slightly in the green.

The 10-year Treasury yield is up as it bumps against 4.1%.

The Treasury outlined its plans to raise $103 billion with new Treasury issuances this month, which along with sales will raise about

19 billion in new cash. Based on projected intermediate to long-term borrowing needs, the Treasury

...