It was a bear of a day Wednesday on our Birmingham and Alabama Stock Report as several stocks of local interest saw significant drops.

Medical Properties Trust led the decliners at -6.1% to close at $4.75, 9 cents off a 52-week low. Vulcan Materials fell 5.1%. Johnson Controls fell 4.3% to finish at a 52-week low of $50.54.

On the bright side, First US Bancshares led a trio of gainers at 2.2%.

Overall, Wall Street dropped Wednesday after rising Treasury yields tightened the vise further on the stock market and big U.S. companies delivered a mixed set of profit reports. Worries about war in the Middle East also dragged on the market.

The S&P 500 sank 1.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 332 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq composite lost 1.6%.

Crude oil prices jumped sharply overnight following a deadly explosion at a hospital in the Gaza Strip, which sparked protests across the Middle East. Gold, meanwhile, rose as investors continue to look for safer investments following the Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel by Hamas.