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Stock futures were higher early Thursday as Wall Street gears up for the start of a new trading month.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 170 points, or 0.33%. S&P 500 futures advanced about 0.56%, and Nasdaq-100 futures gained over 1%.
In regular trading, the broad-market S&P 500 dropped 0.3%, while the Dow lost more than 440 points, or 0.9%. The Nasdaq Composite outperformed, advancing 0.2% on the day.
September, historically a weak month for stocks, wasn't kind to the S&P 500, which dropped 0.5%. Investors grappled with higher oil prices and a surge in Treasury yields, stoking fears of additional rate hikes. The Dow lost 4.3%, while the Nasdaq outperformed and gained 1.9% in the month.
Wednesday also marked the end of the third quarter. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq each advanced about 2%, while the Dow lost 2.7%.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.86%, while the Topix declined 0.44%. South Korea's benchmark Kospi was down 0.8%, while the small-cap Kosdaq Index started the trading day flat. Mainland China and Hong Kong markets were closed for a holiday.
Investors are heading into the new trading month weighing a softer inflation picture against still elevated Treasury yields and uncertainty over the Federal Reserve's next rate decision, which is scheduled for the end of October. They're also looking ahead to a fresh round of earnings reports from companies.
"While those factors remain headwinds, corporate earnings have continued to show resilience," said Tracie McMillion, head of global asset allocation strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. "The key question is whether that earnings strength can continue as borrowing costs remain elevated."
Treasury yields crept higher even as the personal consumption expenditures price index reading for August came in lighter than anticipated. The metric rose 3.4% over the prior 12 months, coming in cooler than the Dow Jones consensus call for 3.7%.
The 10-year Treasury yield breached 5.3% at one point on Wednesday, trading near 2007 highs. The 30-year yield surpassed 5.6%, reaching its highest level since 2002.
On Thursday, investors will digest initial jobless claims, due out at 8:30 a.m. ET. That release will be followed by Friday's September jobs report.
Nike will report earnings after the bell.
U.S. Treasury yields edged lower on Thursday but remained near multi-decade highs, as investors continued to grapple with the prospect of interest rates staying elevated for longer.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield fell about 2 basis points to 5.276%. The 30-year yield also dropped 2 basis points to 5.621%. Yields move inversely to prices.
Elevated Treasury yields have raised concerns about the U.S. government's balance sheet, with borrowing crossing $40 trillion.
TD Securities, however, said the rise in borrowing costs does not yet point to an imminent fiscal crisis. The weighted-average maturity of U.S. debt stands at 5.9 years, meaning higher market rates feed into the government's overall borrowing costs only gradually, the bank said in a note published late Wednesday.
"A fiscal apocalypse is not upon us just yet," TD Securities strategists Gennadiy Goldberg and Molly Brooks wrote, even as they acknowledged that fiscal concerns were contributing to upward pressure on Treasury yields.
South Korea's "historic" $200 billion investment into the U.S., which President Donald Trump said would transform America "for generations," is not a done deal in totality.
The South Korean investment plan includes nuclear power plants, a natural gas power facility in Texas and potentially the long-planned Alaska LNG project.
Trump in a Truth Social post late Wednesday stateside said the countries had agreed to work on the Alaska LNG project, pegging its value at $50 billion, drawing a response from South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung, who emphasized that involvement in some of the projects remains subject to commercial considerations.
Lee in an X post on Thursday local time said that participation in the Alaska LNG project was dependent on its financial viability and legal compliance. He added that investments in nuclear power plants would also require assessment of commercial viability on a plant-by-plant basis.
Oil was little changed on Thursday, as a rebound in Mideast oil exports helped to offset concerns over stalled U.S.-Iran talks.
Futures for international benchmark Brent crude for December delivery slipped 0.12% to $97.91 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for November dropped 0.35% to $90.91 per barrel.
Worries over supply disruptions eased following the resumption of oil tanker loadings by Saudi Arabia from its Red Sea port of Yanbu after the kingdom restarted operations on its East-West Pipeline.
"The pipeline has done much of the heavy lifting when it came to moving crude out of the Gulf," given that Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz where around 20 million barrels of oil passed through each day before the Iran conflict, said David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation.
"Analysts say that the pipeline is nowhere near running at full capacity. But the fact that it is open provides some relief and has helped oil prices retreat," Morrison added.
Meanwhile, traders continue to keep a close eye on developments in the Middle East amid concerns that a lasting resolution to the Iran conflict may be delayed. On Tuesday, Qatar had said it hopes that shuttle diplomacy between the U.S. and Iran can lead to a breakthrough.
Asia-Pacific markets opened mixed on Thursday.
Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.86%, while the Topix declined 0.44%. South Korea's benchmark Kospi was down 0.8%, while the small-cap Kosdaq Index started the trading day flat.
Chinese markets were closed for the holiday.
Asia-Pacific markets were set for a mixed open Thursday as investors weighed softer-than-expected U.S. inflation data against a continued rise in Treasury yields.
Japan's Nikkei 225 was poised to open higher, with its Chicago and Osaka futures contracts last at 67,355 and 67,090 respectively, compared with the index's previous close of 66,753.72.
Futures for Australia's S&P/ASX 200 last traded at 8,765 compared with the index's previous close of 8,789.3.
As Treasury yields rose on Wednesday, so did the rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage.
The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage hit 7.6%, according to Mortgage News Daily. That's the highest level since Nov. 1, 2023 when the average rate was at 7.69%.
The 10-year Treasury yield, which influences mortgage rates, jumped to 5.306% at its high of the day -- the highest level since June 13, 2007. On that day, the benchmark yield hit 5.348%.
Google unveiled Gemini 4 Argon on Wednesday, its most advanced artificial intelligence model yet, offering major improvements in coding, cybersecurity, and complex professional work.
The company said the model sets a new record in real-world software engineering, ties for first in cybersecurity, and leads another benchmark measuring performance across finance, legal, and other professional tasks.
Alphabet shares rose more than 1% after hours.
Micron reported better-than-expected quarterly results on Wednesday as the memory maker continues to benefit from soaring demand for AI infrastructure. The stock rose slightly in extended trading.
The company reported adjusted earnings of $33.42 per share, beating the LSEG consensus estimate of $31.61 per share, while revenue came in at $54.23 billion, above the expected $51.07 billion.
For the fiscal first quarter, Micron said it expects revenue of about $61.5 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $38.15, plus or minus $1. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected earnings of $35.40 per share on $57.02 billion in revenue.
Shares were little changed in extended trading.
U.S. equity futures were little changed to begin trading Wednesday evening.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 41 points, or 0.08%. S&P 500 futures rose 0.1% and Nasdaq-100 futures ticked up by 0.05%.