Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., Sept. 25, 2026.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Stock futures inched higher early Wednesday, following another session in which equities succumbed to pressure from rising bond yields.
Contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.36%. S&P 500 futures gained 0.23%. Nasdaq-100 futures inched up 0.10%.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.81% and the broader Topix was up 1.58%. South Korea’s benchmark Kospi slipped 0.38% and the small-cap Kosdaq added 0.84%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was flat, while mainland China’s CSI 300 was 0.15% higher.
The 30-year Treasury bond yield hit crossed 5.6% on Tuesday, reaching levels not seen since June 2002. The 10-year yield, meanwhile, scaled to a fresh 2007 high near 5.3%. Those moves led the Dow to decline more than 100 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq slid 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively.
Those moves came even as oil prices tumbled on the day.
Jose Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers, noted that equities are “trying to hang in there, but tighter financial conditions are emboldening the bears and lifting interest in downside hedges.”
To be sure, new comments from New York Federal Reserve President John Williams appeared to have eased fears of higher central bank rates, at least for the moment. Williams said late Tuesday, “there is no need for urgency, and we have time to gather more information” before the Fed’s October meeting.
The CME Group’s FedWatch tool shows traders are pricing in a 49% chance of a quarter-point rate hike next month. That’s down from 71% on Monday.
Heading into Wednesday, traders will have their sights set on the August reading of the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge. Economists polled by Dow Jones see the metric rising 0.3% for the month, leading to an annual pace of 3.7%.
Wednesday marks the last day of September and the third quarter. Market performance has been mixed in both timeframes. For the month, the S&P 500 and Dow are tracking for declines while the Nasdaq is up more than 1%. For the quarter, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are up 2%, while the Dow is off nearly 2%.
