Asian Stocks Set for Declines as Oil Extends Gains: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Asian stocks were set to decline Wednesday as surging oil prices pushed bond yields higher and stoked fears that resurgent inflation will force central banks to tighten monetary policy.
US crude extended gains in early Asian trading after surging more than 5% in the previous session to top $90 a barrel, as escalating fighting between the US and Iran raised the risk of further disruptions to oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz. The oil shock helped push global bond yields to the highest since 2008 and weighed on equities at the start of a seasonally weak month. The 10-year Treasury yield rose five basis points.
Equity-index futures for Japan, Australia and South Korea pointed to losses at the open. US stock contracts were steady after the Nasdaq 100 posted its worst session in two weeks and the S&P 500 fell 0.7%, dragged lower by a rout in chipmakers. Dell Technologies Inc. bucked the tech weakness, jumping in extended trading after raising its annual sales forecast by $25 billion.
The renewed surge in energy prices is adding to concerns over inflation already fueled by government spending and heavy corporate borrowing to finance the artificial-intelligence buildout. With markets now favoring a Federal Reserve hike in September, investors are watching oil and bond yields for signs of further pressure on equities.
“Higher oil prices are threatening to reignite inflation, raising the risks of tighter monetary policy,” said Fawad Razaqzada at Forex.com. “Also unnerving investors is the continued rise in global bond yields – which kind of goes hand in hand with oil prices.”
President Donald Trump said the US strikes were retaliation for Iran’s attempt to mine the strait and an earlier attack on a military base in Jordan. He warned of further strikes if Tehran responded.
The exchange followed weeks of relative calm, during which the Trump administration had shifted from military action toward economic pressure on Tehran. Neither side has shown much appetite to resume talks since an interim peace deal collapsed.
The renewed tensions are adding to pressure on Wall Street from a deepening global bond selloff, as rising yields weigh on equity valuations. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s recent Jackson Hole speech has also prompted traders to ramp up bets on further rate hikes this year.
In the US, chipmakers pared some early losses. Nvidia Corp. fell 1.5% Tuesday after dropping as much as 2.6%, while Advanced Micro Devices Inc. lost 2.4% and Micron Technology Inc. declined 2.6%. SanDisk Corp., among the S&P 500’s top performers this year, slipped 1.9%.
The pullback comes at the start of what has historically been the weakest month for US stocks. The S&P 500 has lost an average 0.8% in September over the past three decades, compared with a 0.9% average gain in the other 11 months, though the index bucked that trend in each of the past two years.
Hawkish Fed signals and renewed inflation risks from higher energy prices have increased bets on a rate hike at the central bank’s Sept. 16 meeting. Friday’s US payrolls report may offer the next clue on the policy outlook, with inflation still running above the Fed’s 2% target.
“Warsh will be attentive to the impact that higher oil has on inflation compensation across all horizons and on bond yields,” said Krishna Guha at Evercore. “A single Fed hike would have a trivial effect on longer-term yields and even two or three may not have much impact.”
Corporate Highlights:
Dell Technologies Inc. cranked up its annual sales forecast by $25 billion, exceeding analysts’ estimates in a further signal of surging demand for servers to run artificial intelligence tasks. Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer John Ternus touted the company’s strong product pipeline and teased a “phenomenal” iPhone launch next week in his first remarks to employees as their new leader. Anthropic PBC is releasing a new version of its powerful Fable AI model that it says is better at coding and science tasks, as well as more economical — all changes it says are in response to customer feedback. S&P Global Inc. is considering spinning out its flagship data and research platform Capital IQ Pro, in a move that could create a standalone firm worth billions of dollars. GoPro Inc. soared after the action camera maker entered into a definitive merger agreement with privately held company Starman Optical Inc. Chevron Corp. is finalizing a deal that will significantly expand its operations in Venezuela by adding two giant oil fields in the Orinoco Belt, part of a push by Trump to ramp up production in the South American country. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
Nikkei 225 futures fell 1.9% as of 7:03 a.m. Tokyo time Hang Seng futures were little changed S&P/ASX 200 futures fell 0.9% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2% Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin fell 0.2% to $77,287.48 Ether fell 0.1% to $2,417.93 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced five basis points to 4.80% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.7% to $90.84 a barrel Spot gold was little changed ©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
