Stocks Churn After Rout as Brent Falls Below $105: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — A decline in oil prices did little to allay Wall Street’s concerns that still-elevated energy costs could fuel inflation and spur Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes.
Following its worst session in more than a month, the S&P 500 was little changed. While the pace of the recent Treasury rout eased, 30-year yields approached the highest level since 2002. Brent crude fell to around $104 as top exporter Saudi Arabia resumed flows through a key pipeline, overshadowing a stalemate in US-Iran talks. The dollar edged up.
A steady flow of crude appears to be eking out of the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz on vessels transiting covertly, despite ongoing risks to shipping. Still, oil is headed for a third monthly advance, with the global benchmark up about 70% this year.
“Geopolitics will remain the primary market driver, and any positive headlines on a ceasefire should pressure oil and help stocks rebound,” said Tom Essaye at The Sevens Report.
Traders also kept an eye on the latest economic data. US job openings fell to a five-month low, suggesting employers grew more cautious about expanding their workforces toward the end of the summer, while layoffs remained subdued. Consumer confidence dropped to the lowest since 2014.
“Overall, it was a disappointing round of data, but not one that challenges the market’s broader understanding of the current state of the US economy,” said Vail Hartman at BMO Capital Markets.
The latest labor-market data reinforces the “low-hire, low-fire” backdrop that has taken hold, according to Bret Kenwell at eToro. On the consumer-confidence front, he says the disappointing headline figure should not come as a surprise.
“Sentiment now sits at multi-year lows as persistent inflation and higher costs weigh on households,” Kenwell noted. “The question becomes whether we’ll see this materialize into weaker consumer spending — a question that earnings season will help answer.”
Meantime, economists estimate the jobs report due Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics will show nonfarm payrolls rose about 90,000 after climbing in the prior month by the most since March. The unemployment rate is seen remaining at a one-year low of 4.1%.
The catalyst for recent stronger hiring has, unsurprisingly, been the economy itself. Demand metrics highlight an extended and feverish pace of capital spending as well as improved consumer spending. That backdrop has allowed the Fed to turn its policy focus squarely toward inflation.
Corporate Highlights:
Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang, Anthropic PBC head Dario Amodei and Palantir Technologies Inc. CEO Alex Karp are slated to attend a lunch with US President Donald Trump to discuss artificial-intelligence risks. Anthropic PBC warned that its technology poses “catastrophic or existential risks to humanity” and mapped out plans to spend hundreds of billions of dollars in its prospectus as the AI company prepared for its initial public offering, Reuters reported. OpenAI is on track to generate annualized revenue of nearly $70 billion based on its current performance, fueled by strong gains in business and consumer adoption, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. Health and fitness ring-maker Oura Inc. became the latest company to delay a US initial public offering, citing uncertainty in the market for first-time share sales. CarMax Inc. reported comparable used-vehicle sales that expanded more than expected, showing its revival efforts are taking hold even as consumer sentiment falters. Paramount Skydance Corp. has kicked off its long-awaited investment-grade bond sale, the largest portion of a syndicated $52 billion debt package for its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 was little changed as of 10:46 a.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.4% The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.2% The MSCI World Index fell 0.1% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1% The euro fell 0.3% to $1.1341 The British pound fell 0.3% to $1.3221 The Japanese yen was little changed at 157.42 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin rose 0.6% to $83,970.64 Ether rose 1.3% to $2,717.8 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 5.26% Germany’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 3.60% Britain’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 5.38% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.5% to $91.23 a barrel Spot gold rose 1.2% to $4,164.79 an ounce ©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
