U.S. Stocks Open Lower as Oil Prices and Bond Yields Rise

U.S. stocks opened lower on the first trading day of September, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 0.64%, the S&P 500 declining 0.71%, and the Nasdaq dropping 1.31%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index briefly fell more than 3%. According to BlockBeats On-chain Detection, Intel and Qualcomm fell nearly 3%, while AMD and Meta dropped more than 2%. Tesla, Alibaba, and Nvidia also declined by nearly 2%. The main pressure on markets came from rising oil prices and global bond yields. Brent crude briefly climbed above $92 per barrel, as investors worried that tensions in the Middle East and disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz could lift energy prices and inflation, while also strengthening expectations for further Federal Reserve rate hikes. CME FedWatch showed that the probability of a 25 basis point rate increase in September to a range of 3.75% to 4.00% had risen to 66%. Paul Ciana, a technical strategist at Bank of America, said the S&P 500's upward breakout that began in August remained intact as long as the index held 7,500 points. He added that RSI and MACD had not confirmed recent price highs, suggesting that upward momentum was weakening. Ciana said seasonal headwinds, election uncertainty, and rising front-end U.S. Treasury yields were creating greater challenges for the market, and that higher yields increased the risk of stocks entering a consolidation phase rather than accelerating higher. Matt Maley, a strategist at Miller Tabak, also warned that stocks had previously been able to ignore rising yields, but that did not mean the pressure from high yields would not eventually emerge. JPMorgan, however, said rising yields may not become an obstacle that a bull market cannot overcome, as they could reflect stronger economic activity momentum.