Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on September 16, 2026 in New York City, USA.
Gina Moon | Reuters
Stock futures fell slightly Sunday night following a strong week, even as U.S. Treasury yields soared to multi-year highs.
Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures It pulled back 97 points (0.2%). lost 0.2% with .
Rising oil prices weighed on stock futures in early trading. Brent crude oil traded more than 1% higher at $105.86 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate futures also rose about 1% to $93.20 after President Donald Trump rejected ceasefire terms offered by Iran.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% last week, marking its first decline in three weeks. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite posted their best weekly performance since early August, rising 1.2% and 2.1%, respectively.
Tech stocks were the driving force last week. meta platform Traders cheered the company’s artificial intelligence agent, Muse, and the stock rose nearly 13% during that time. Microsoft rose more than 4%, while Apple and Nvidia each rose more than 1%.
The gains came even as U.S. Treasury yields soared to their highest levels in years, as persistent inflation led traders to bet the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates further. Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields rose to levels not seen since 2007. The 30-year bond yield has reached its highest level since 2004. Two-year Treasury yields also rose about 17 basis points last week.
“The rapid appreciation in two-year government notes signals to the world that major central banks need to raise interest rates further in response to the inflationary effects of prolonged oil price pressures due to the recent escalation of wars in the Middle East,” said Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research. “Unfortunately, these interest rate increases also worsen the outlook for large government deficits around the world.”
Interest rates will again be in the spotlight this week as a number of important economic indicators are released. The August Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, will be released on Wednesday. New U.S. manufacturing data is expected to be released on Thursday, while the closely watched September employment report is scheduled to be released on Friday.
