Stocks, Bonds Fall as Brent Oil Jumps Above $100: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Stocks joined bonds lower as oil prices rallied, fueling concerns about inflationary pressures that could make the Federal Reserve raise rates.
Brent crude topped $100 a barrel as fresh tensions between the US and Iran heightened worries about energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz. The S&P 500 fell for a third straight session. Ten-year yields climbed to the highest since 2023. The Treasury said it will purchase up to $6 billion of longer-dated government debt in the first operation under an expanded buybacks program.
The US attacked more Iranian oil tankers overnight, destroying five vessels in response to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeting one of its warships. The strikes underscored the difficulty to pivot from active hostilities to a sustained campaign of economic pressure against Tehran.
“The temperature just got turned up again,” said Kenny Polcari at SlateStone Wealth. “The risk premium is alive and well, and the risk to energy supplies coming out of the Gulf is real.”
Meantime, the dollar neared its lowest in about seven months as the yen rose. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent challenged traders to test his resolve on boosting Japan’s currency, saying when he wades into markets these days he’s effectively doing so with inside information.
A resurgence in energy costs comes as traders brace for this week’s key inflation data. The issue of elevated prices and whether the Fed will hike rates for the first time in three years could dominate the Sept. 15-16 policy meeting.
With officials concerned by persistently high inflation, but divided over how monetary policy should respond in the near term, new evidence of price pressures could tilt the Federal Open Market Committee into a hike. Cooler reports are likely to keep the Fed on hold, as it’s been through five previous meetings this year.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release August data for the producer price index on Thursday, followed by the consumer price index on Friday.
“A hot CPI print would all but seal a September hike and underpin a firmer dollar,” said Elias Haddad at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. “A cooler reading would strengthen the case for a hold and leave the dollar vulnerable to a dovish Fed repricing.”
Money markets assigned a roughly 60% probability of a September Fed hike.
Corporate Highlights:
Apple Inc.’s $570 billion summer surge is saddling new Chief Executive Officer John Ternus with high expectations heading into the company’s most anticipated event in years: the unveiling of the foldable iPhone on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc.’s Google is spending €13 billion ($15.1 billion) on artificial-intelligence infrastructure in Finland, its biggest European investment, as the Nordic country’s cold climate and carbon-free power make it a magnet for data center builders. Dell Technologies Inc. is seeking to raise about $4 billion from an investment-grade bond sale, joining a wave of issuers seeking to refinance debt as it rides an AI-driven boom in demand for servers. Amazon.com Inc. is expected to raise £4.25 billion ($5.8 billion) from its debut sterling bond sale, increasing the size of the four-part deal even as orders from investors eased slightly. An AI researcher has resigned from Anthropic PBC and called on other staffers to rethink their work, citing his concern that the company and its top competitor OpenAI are acting irresponsibly in their all-out pursuit of a technology that poses existential risks to humanity. US security agencies accused China’s top AI companies including DeepSeek and Kimi maker Moonshot AI of systematically extracting proprietary knowledge from American firms and warned Silicon Valley developers to protect their work. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 fell 0.4% as of 11:03 a.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.1% The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7% The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 1.5% The MSCI World Index fell 0.5% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1% The euro rose 0.1% to $1.1640 The British pound was little changed at $1.3553 The Japanese yen rose 0.4% to 153.38 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin rose 0.3% to $78,719.13 Ether rose 0.4% to $2,493.23 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced four basis points to 4.83% Germany’s 10-year yield advanced six basis points to 3.43% Britain’s 10-year yield advanced eight basis points to 5.25% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 3.5% to $96.31 a barrel Spot gold rose 1% to $4,400.73 an ounce ©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
