Stock markets got off kicked the fall trading season on a sour note. The S&P 500 lost 1.4 per cent. All megacaps fell, with Nvidia Corp. seeing its longest retreat since March. Photo by Richard Drew / The Associated Press

Wall Street kicked off September on a sour note, with stocks joining a slide in bonds amid heavy corporate-debt sales and developed-world budget worries. The dollar rose. Gold hit a record high.

A traditionally weak season for equities started at a time when anxiety had already been brewing about lofty valuations, particularly in the group of big techs. The S&P 500 lost 1.4 per cent. All megacaps fell, with Nvidia Corp. seeing its longest retreat since March.

Things weren’t that much easier in the bond market, where 30-year U.S. yields approached five pe

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