S&P 500 Falls at End of Worst Month Since June: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — A fresh bout of volatility gripped Wall Street in the last hour of trading, with stocks erasing gains that were earlier fueled by slower-than-anticipated inflation data.
The S&P 500 saw its worst month since June. Short-dated Treasury yields barely budged while those on 30-year bonds remained at the highest since 2002. Money markets now see a less than a 40% chance of a Federal Reserve rate hike in October. The dollar wavered. Oil held near $100. In late hours, Micron Technology Inc. a gave solid outlook.
The equity market seems to be waiting for a new catalyst – neither selling off dramatically or rallying convincingly to new highs, according to Chris Zaccarelli at Northlight Asset Management.
“We believe a strong earnings season and getting past the midterm elections are what will break the market out of its trading range and see new highs by year-end,” he said.
Earlier Wednesday, stocks gained on data showing the Fed’s preferred measure of underlying inflation, the personal consumption expenditures price index excluding food and energy, rose by a less-than-expected 0.2% in August. The prior month was also revised lower.
“This is good news for investors worried about the recent surge in bond yields, and it bolsters the case for not hiking in October,” said David Russell at TradeStation.
However, it’s also relatively “old data” that doesn’t reflect this month’s surge in diesel prices, he added.
“The inflation battle is hardly over, but today’s numbers are a step in the right direction,” said Bret Kenwell at eToro. “A meaningful retreat in oil prices would help ease inflationary pressure, but the immediate focus is on Treasury yields. This report may finally take some air out of that move.”
The latest inflation revisions will buy the Fed “some breathing room,” making an October hike unlikely, according to Krishna Guha at Evercore. Still, strong growth data keeps open the debate as to how far the central bank might ultimately have to go, he noted.
US consumer spending rose in August at the fastest pace in over a year, helping to power the economy through persistent inflation.
Corporate Highlights:
The Federal Trade Commission is scrutinizing OpenAI, Anthropic PBC and other artificial-intelligence companies about the safety of their products amid high-profile cybersecurity incidents, according to a person familiar with the matter. OpenAI accused its Chinese rival Moonshot AI of being responsible for a wide-scale effort to extract data from its GPT AI systems that could be used to reproduce the reasoning and capabilities of the company’s most advanced models. Apple Inc. is set to sell about 6 million units of the iPhone Duo this year, Counterpoint Research said, offering the first estimate for how the company’s inaugural foldable device will fare. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. boosted its networking revenue forecast and announced a $1.2 billion order from cloud company Vultr, giving fresh signals that it’s benefiting from the AI build-out. Paramount Skydance Corp.’s David Ellison named former Mattel Inc. chief Ynon Kreiz to the new position of co-CEO, bringing in an established media executive and corporate leader as he looks to create a new entertainment giant with the $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. Kalshi Inc. is finalizing a new financing round that would value the prediction market platform at around $40 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal is expected to be the startup’s last round before an initial public offering, which is anticipated as soon as next year, the people said. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 fell 0.25% as of 4 p.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.2% The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9% The MSCI World Index fell 0.2% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro fell 0.1% to $1.1326 The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.3261 The Japanese yen fell 0.1% to 157.46 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin was little changed at $83,537.7 Ether fell 0.7% to $2,669.64 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced six basis points to 5.30% Germany’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 3.59% Britain’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 5.42% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.4% to $90.61 a barrel Spot gold fell 0.7% to $4,154.08 an ounce ©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
