NewzNEW YORK (AP) — A rise in oil prices on Thursday is sending worries about inflation and yields in the bond market higher, erasing some of the relief the U.S. Treasury Department created the day before. A drop for Walmart following its latest profit report helped drag the U.S.
stock market lower.The S&P 500 slipped 0.4% and is on track for a fourth loss in the five days since setting its all-time high last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 430 points, or 0.8%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% lower.The bond market remains the center of action after yields charged higher through the summer on worries about high inflation, gargantuan government debts and other factors.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made a move Wednesday that jolted financial markets to at least double the size of his department’s planned purchases of longer-term Treasurys from Sept. 4.That helped push yields down after the 10-year Treasury’s yield had hit its highest level in more than a year and the 30-year yield got back to where it was in 2007, before the Great Recession sent yields toward zero worldwide. It’s a big deal because high yields slow the economy by raising interest payments for people, companies and the government, and they can undercut prices for stocks and other investments.But analysts had cautioned the effect may be short lived, given how small the purchases are relative to the overall size of the Treasury market and how they don't fix the fundamental concerns of investors that had driven up yields.
Plus, more signals arrived quickly to push worries higher.The U.S. government’s debt topped $40 trillion on Wednesday, a staggering record that arrived just months after the national debt first blew past the $39 trillion mark in April, because Washington continues to spend far more money than it brings in.And on Thursday, the price for a barrel of Brent crude climbed 2.5% to $93.90 as uncertainty continues about when the war with Iran will allow oil tankers to freely exit the Persian Gulf again. President Donald Trump threatened Iran with “the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY” late Wednesday but provided few details.That helped push the 10-year Treasury yield up to 4.69% from 4.65% late Wednesday.
It’s almost back to its 4.71% level from late Tuesday, before the Treasury Department made… A drop for Walmart following its latest profit report also helped drag the U.S. stock market lower.The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% and is on track for a fourth loss in the five days since setting its all-time high last week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 305 points, or 0.6%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% lower.The bond market remains the center of action after yields charged higher through the summer on worries about high inflation, gargantuan government debts and other factors. Plus, more signals arrived quickly to push the bond market’s worries higher.The U.S.
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