Stock market today: Wall Street swings as the oil and bond markets crank up the pressure
Wall Street is holding relatively steady, but only after swinging up and down through the day as pressure from the oil and bond markets cranked even higher
NEW YORK — Wall Street is holding firmer Wednesday, but only after swinging through the day as pressure from the oil and bond markets cranked even higher.
The S&P 500 was up 0.1% in late trading following several U-turns from the morning into the afternoon. It's coming off a 1.5% tumble from the day before that dragged it to its lowest level since June.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 58 points, or 0.2%, as of 3 p.m. after earlier bouncing between a gain of 112 points and a loss of 312. The Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher.
September is on track to be the S&P 500 's worst month of the year as the stock market tries to absorb a recent leap by Treasury yields to heights unseen in more than a decade. High yields mean bonds are paying more in interest, which makes investors less willing to pay high prices for stocks and other riskier investments.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose further Wednesday, to 4.63% from 4.55%. That's up from about 3.50% in May and from just 0.50% early in the pandemic. It's soared as Wall Street increasingly accepts a new normal where interest rates will stay high for longer.
After more than a decade where the Federal Reserve would often cut rates in order to help the economy, still-high inflation is now discouraging the Fed from lowering rates quickly. It’s already raised its main interest rate to the highest level since 2001, and it indicated last week it will cut rates by less in 2024 than earlier expected.
Strategists at Bank of America say yields could keep rising. Even if the Fed is close to done with hiking its overnight
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