US Stocks Rise as Bond Yields Stabilize Amid Ongoing Conflict with Iran
The US stock market closed higher on Thursday after a mixed start to September, following a mostly positive August. The S&P 500 rose 1.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.2% and the Nasdaq composite closed 1.4% higher.
The rally was led by big technology and communication services stocks, with Microsoft rising 2.7%, Apple gaining 1%, and Meta climbing 3%. Nvidia also rose 1.8% after announcing a $13 billion acquisition of Hugging Face, an artificial intelligence platform.
Oil prices initially increased due to the ongoing conflict between the US and Iran but ended little changed. The price of Brent crude fell 0.1% to settle at $95.52 per barrel, while benchmark US crude edged up 0.3% to settle at $91.30 a barrel.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 4.77%, and the yield on the 2-year Treasury slid to 4.34%. The stabilization in bond yields suggests that investors may be betting on a pause in interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.