Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 30, 2026.
NYSE
Stock futures gained Thursday as investors continued to buy AI-related stocks to start a new month of trading even as surging Treasury yields weighed on most of the market.
S&P 500 futures rose 0.3%, and Nasdaq-100 futures gained 0.6%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 86 points, or 0.2%.
Micron posted blockbuster earnings with revenue quadrupling last quarter. The results appeared to boost other chipmakers and AI-related companies more than Micron itself whose shares are up 270% this year. Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom were all higher in early trading.
Alphabet added to the bullish sentiment, unveiling its latest Gemini model. Its shares were up almost 2% in early trading. Tech shares led the broader market in September as a majority of the stocks in the benchmark declined. That pattern held early Wednesday with most stocks outside of technology weaker or flat.
Micron is reaping 87% profit margins but is planning to increase worker pay, which will dampen margins relative to Street expectations, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.
The market started October higher even as two of the biggest concerns of investors persisted: oil and rates.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield hit an intraday high today of 5.342% breaking thru the June 2007 high of 5.328% for highest level going back to April 3, 2002 when the 10-yr went up to 5.379%. The 30-year was at 5.663% as of 9:10 a.m. ET on Thursday.
WTI crude gained 1.6% to above $91 a barrel as traders awaited what President Donald Trump’s next move would be in the Iran conflict and whether he would wait until after the midterms before taking more military action.
September, historically a weak month for stocks, wasn’t kind to the S&P 500, which dropped 0.5%. Investors grappled with the higher oil prices and a surge in Treasury yields. The Dow lost 4.3%, while the Nasdaq outperformed and gained 1.9% in the month because of tech shares.
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%.
“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.”