ORLANDO, Florida, May 19 (Reuters) - Wall Street fell on

Tuesday, slammed again by inflation worries that pushed

long-dated bond yields to the highest since 2007, as investors

dismissed conflicting signals on U.S.-Iran talks and looked

ahead to Nvidia's earnings on Wednesday.

In my column today, I also look ahead to Nvidia's results.

Another bumper report is expected, but it comes at a potentially

critical juncture for the company and wider sector: if the AI

juggernaut is to slow down, it could be for the oldest of

old-school reasons - rising interest rates.

If you have more time to read, here are a few articles I

recommend to help you make sense of what happened in markets

today.

1. Warsh's arrival leaves long bonds without a safety

net: Mike Dolan

2. World awaits new Fed Chair's vision on independence

3. EXCLUSIVE-US not in hurry to extend China trade

truce, Bessent says

4. UK finance ministry presses supermarkets to cap food

prices, sources say

5. Nvidia shares set for $350 billion price swing after

earnings, options show

Today's Key Market Moves

* STOCKS: South Korea -3.3%, Europe up slightly, UK

basically flat. S&P 500 and Dow -0.7%, Nasdaq -0.8%.

* SECTORS/SHARES: Five sectors on the S&P 500 fall, six

rise. Comms services, consumer discretionaries, industrials,

financials down 1% or more, materials -2%. Akamai Technologies

-6% on bond offering, Cisco -3%.

* FX: Yen slips through 159/$, Tokyo cranks up warnings.

India's rupee hits new low for sixth day in a row

* BONDS: 30-year U.S. yield highest since 2007, flirts

with 5.20%. U.S. futures now indicating more than 50% chance of

rate hike this year.

* COMMODITIES/METALS: Oil down ~0.8% as Vance cites Iran

progress, precious metals slide: gold -1%, silver and platinum

-4%.

Today's Talking Points

* Nvidia Day

The world's most valuable company releases its latest

earnings on Wednesday, and it is expected to be another

blockbuster. But after years of near-monopoly in chips used to

train AI systems, Nvidia is facing competition from tech giants

building their own chips. The market is much larger, but also

more contested.

And tens of billions of dollars in revenue is no guarantee

shares immediately rise either. In February, shares tumbled 5.5%

the day after earnings, the biggest drop in 10 months, even as

revenue leaped 94%. A further 4% slide the next day wiped out

$450 billion of market cap in 48 hours. And last November shares

slid 3% the day after results, and 6% in the three days after

the prior earnings report last August 27.

* Rock, meet hard place

Ugly UK jobs data Tuesday, ugly inflation data Wednesday? If

so, the Bank of England is in an even more invidious position

than it might have feared. Raise rates to cap prices, or support

the creaking labor market? Other central banks will be watching

closely - they could find themselves in the same boat soon.

Figures on Tuesday showed UK payrolls fell by 100,000 in

April, the biggest drop since the start of the pandemic. CPI

inflation data on Wednesday is expected to show a sharp rise in

monthly rates but cooling annual gains. BoE officials will be

praying there are no surprises. Not on the upside, anyway.

* Intervention tension

Japan is sounding the FX intervention alarm. Again. Finance

Minister Satsuki Katayama warned at the G7 meeting in Paris that

Tokyo is ready to act, as the yen slides toward 160 per dollar,

which seemed to be the catalyst for Japan wading back into the

market to buy yen on April 30.

Traders will take note and many may reduce long dollar/short

yen positions. But if Japan has spent 10 trillion yen since

April 30 defending the currency, as sources suggest, that's a

lot of money to buy you barely three weeks of breathing room.

What could move markets tomorrow?

* Developments in the Middle East

* Japan Tankan survey (May)

* China interest rate decision

* Indonesia interest rate decision

* Taiwan current account (Q1)

* Taiwan export orders (April)

* Germany producer price inflation (April)

* Euro zone inflation (April, final)

* UK PPI and CPI inflation (April)

* Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey testifies to

Treasury Select Committee, alongside BoE colleagues Sarah

Breeden, Swati Dhingra and Catherine Mann

* U.S. Treasury sells $16 billion of 20-year notes at

auction

* U.S. Federal Reserve minutes of April 28-29 policy meeting

* U.S. earnings include Nvidia, Lowe's, Target

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