Stocks Steady as Bond Yields Retreat; Yen Gains: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Stocks were steady as oil prices stabilized and bond yields retreated from multi-decade highs. The yen jumped more than 1% against the dollar as investors focused on factors that could bolster the currency, while remaining wary of intervention risk.
Futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 edged 0.1% higher. Technology shares remain in focus, with chipmaker Broadcom Inc. falling in premarket trading after underwhelming results. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. slipped after reporting sales that fell short of high expectations.
Thursday’s small moves extended a cautious start to September, when global bond yields surged as renewed fighting in Iran drove oil higher, fueling inflation concerns and bets on a Federal Reserve interest-rate hike this month. With earnings season largely over, attention is shifting to Friday’s US jobs report for clues on the US economy and the policy outlook.
“There’s no structural trend in the direction of travel and the market typically follows short-term moves on oil,” said Nadege Dufosse, head of multi-asset at Candriam. “It’s a market which is complicated to navigate.”
Attention is on the yen, which rose as much as 1.4% to 156.41 per dollar. Traders are questioning the view that the Bank of Japan will move too slowly in raising interest rates, and news from the nation’s biggest pension is fueling talk of more positive fund flows. There is also speculation that Japan could intervene in the currency market again.
The yen pared some of its gain after Bloomberg News reported that BOJ officials are leaning toward raising the benchmark rate by a quarter point this month, playing down the likelihood of a jumbo hike while remaining flexible on the pace of future hikes.
“Any sustainable turn lower in USD/JPY now probably requires a much more hawkish Bank of Japan and some new initiatives to encourage domestic investment in Japan,” said Chris Turner, head of foreign exchange strategy at ING Bank.
Europe’s Stoxx 600 benchmark rose about 0.3, snapping three days of declines. Soitec surged 12% after the French chip-material company lifted revenue guidance. Publicis Groupe SA rose after winning Pepsico Inc.’s $1.7 billion global media account.
Elsewhere, Brent halted a three-day rally, falling 0.3% to $95.38 a barrel after President Donald Trump said renewed attacks on Iran would likely be short-lived and reiterated his claim that the US controls the Strait of Hormuz.
The pullback in crude eased pressure on Treasuries, which broadly held gains from the previous session. The Treasury 10-year yield dipped one basis point to 4.77%. European bonds also advanced, with Germany’s 10-year yield down two basis points to 2.98%.
Meanwhile, natural gas futures in Europe gained for a fourth day to head for the highest close since early 2023. US retail diesel prices hit the highest since mid-2022, topping a peak seen during the early stages of the Iran war to approach a record. The national average pump price climbed to $5.783 a gallon on Wednesday.
Base metals prices also advanced, with copper in London trading less than $300 a ton below the record set in January.
A Bloomberg gauge of the dollar slipped for a second day. Gold rose 1.2% to about $4,435 an ounce.
Corporate Highlights:
Elliott Investment Management has built a sizeable stake in Deutsche Telekom AG and indicated the German telecommunications giant should ditch a potential merger with its American arm T-Mobile US Inc., people familiar with the matter said. China is about a decade and a half behind in developing cutting-edge chipmaking tools, according to a top executive at Germany’s Zeiss Group, a key supplier in the global semiconductor industry. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. declined in late trading after the company reported increasing sales that didn’t meet high expectations from investors. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.3% as of 10:08 a.m. London time S&P 500 futures rose 0.1% Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.1% Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.7% The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 0.2% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3% The euro rose 0.2% to $1.1607 The Japanese yen rose 1.3% to 156.71 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.7188 per dollar The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.3502 Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin rose 0.6% to $77,834.76 Ether rose 0.4% to $2,402.82 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.78% Germany’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 3.36% Britain’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 5.19% Commodities
Brent crude rose 0.1% to $95.74 a barrel Spot gold rose 1.3% to $4,440.04 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Julien Ponthus, Yasufumi Saito and Anand Krishnamoorthy.
©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
