US Stocks Edge Up as AI Gains Contend With Yields: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — US stocks struggled for direction as a global selloff in bonds drove yields to fresh multidecade highs and oil renewed its climb, countering an advance in the artificial-intelligence trade.
S&P 500 futures were 0.2% higher after fluctuating between gains and losses. Chipmakers provided support following an upbeat forecast from Micron Technology Inc. Weighing on sentiment were rising global yields, with the yield on 10-year Treasuries touching the highest since 2002. Its 30-year UK counterpart briefly topped 6% for the first time since 1998.
Brent advanced above $100 a barrel in a choppy session as traders weighed an increase in flows from the Middle East against the risk of further escalation. The dollar headed for a three-month high, while gold was little changed.
Swings in oil continue to set the tone for markets at a time when a resilient US economy and elevated inflation have investors seeing scope for as many as four Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes over the next 12 months. Global debt markets just capped their worst quarter since 2024, with the average government yield above 4% for the first time since 2007.
“While the surge in bond yields itself is primarily a function of strong macro data in the US, it still has negative repercussions for equity markets,” said Wolf von Rotberg at Bank J Safra Sarasin. “Momentum has collapsed outside the tech sector, as the pain threshold for valuations has been crossed.”
Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.5%. Investors are taking comfort from sky-high demand for memory from Micron and its peers as hundreds of billions of dollars pour into global AI infrastructure.
Elsewhere in tech, Alphabet Inc. rose in premarket trading after beginning to roll out its long-awaited flagship AI model. In another sign of the scale of the AI buildout, Tencent Holdings Ltd. signed an estimated $7 billion lease deal with cloud provider Oracle Corp., the Financial Times reported.
“Demand is still strong,” said Andrea Gabellone, head of global equities at KBC Securities. “Micron’s outlook has proven that for instance the memory trade has still room to go.”
Meanwhile, Europe’s Stoxx 600 headed for the lowest level since June, with the UK’s FTSE 100 down 1.5%. French bonds continued to underperform ahead of a budget that risks toppling the prime minister and stoking concerns over the country’s debt burden.
“There’s no one to buy the dip until there is a credible plan to tackle the deficit and debt,” said David Kruk at La Financiere de l’Echiquier in Paris. “That’s in any event far away from now.”
What Bloomberg Strategists Say:
“Today’s oil rally doesn’t have a clean explanation. Headlines pointed to Iran negotiations breaking down, but they preceded the move, while some of the gains could simply be a bounce from stretched levels. But oil is rising just as the dominant narrative has shifted towards supply having returned in a big way. That raises a more worrying possibility: higher yields themselves are pushing oil higher.”
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.9% as of 10:52 a.m. London time S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.6% Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was little changed The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 0.2% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.4% The euro fell 0.4% to $1.1286 The Japanese yen fell 0.6% to 158.41 per dollar The offshore yuan fell 0.2% to 6.7200 per dollar The British pound fell 0.4% to $1.3217 Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin rose 0.2% to $83,807.7 Ether rose 0.4% to $2,692.63 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced three basis points to 5.31% Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 3.59% Britain’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 5.45% Commodities
Brent crude rose 2.7% to $100.65 a barrel Spot gold was little changed This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Julien Ponthus and Neil Campling.
©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
