Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on Aug. 25, 2026.
NYSE
Dow futures rose early Thursday as traders looked ahead to the first of two inflation reports due this week.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 89 points, or 0.17%. S&P 500 futures added 0.1%, but Nasdaq-100 futures were off 0.17%.
The action comes after the major averages tumbled for a third day. The Dow lost just over 400 points, or 0.8%, while the S&P 500 fell 0.5%. The Nasdaq Composite declined 0.6%.
Higher Treasury yields kept the U.S. stock market under pressure after the Treasury Department said it would buy back up to $6 billion in longer-term debt – triple the usual amount. Less than a month ago, the Treasury said it would more than double the size of its $2 billion government debt repurchases.
Following the move, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note climbed to a session high of 4.857%, its highest level since November 2023.
“The size of this program remains far short of what would be necessary to materially move yields at the long end,” Tobin Marcus, head of U.S. politics and policy at Wolfe Research, said in a note. “It’s been clear since the expanded bond buybacks were first announced last month that they were intended to send a signal to markets, but in our view, the nature of that signal was murky.”
Rising oil prices amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran also weighed down stocks. International Brent crude futures advanced 3.4% to close at $101.21 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures advanced 3.3% to end at $96.05. Both saw the highest settlement prices since May.
The recent surge in oil prices comes as traders set their sights on two inflation reports due this week.
August’s producer price index, a measure of wholesale inflation, comes out Thursday morning. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect a monthly gain of 0.3%, and a 5.3% advance year over year.
The closely watched consumer price index follows on Friday, with the Dow Jones consensus calling for a 0.4% jump in August and a 12-month increase of 3.4%. Both numbers feed into the Fed’s primary inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditures price index, which won’t be released until after the Fed’s interest rate vote Sept. 16.
Other economic reports of note include weekly initial jobless claims and August existing home sales.
Asia-Pacific markets closed mixed Thursday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.2%, while South Korea’s Kospi slid 0.25%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 1.23% in its last hour of trade, while mainland China’s CSI 300 lost 0.53%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined over 1%.
In Europe, stocks traded broadly lower, with the regional Stoxx 600 index down by 0.1% in early trade ahead of the European Central Bank’s monetary policy update. The ECB is widely expected to raise its key interest rate by 25 basis points as inflation remains above target due to the energy shock arising from the Iran war.
“We think global equity markets can continue to rise despite higher energy costs,” UBS strategists said in a note on Thursday morning. “If the impact of higher energy worsens, we would like both U.S. and European health care sectors for their defensive characteristics alongside structural growth opportunities. In Europe, we also favor industrials, banks, and IT. In Asia, Taiwan could face a drag from higher energy prices, but we think its outsized exposure to the structural AI theme should cushion the impact.”