US Treasury Yields and Oil Prices Continue to Rise, Wall Street Falls for Second Day

On September 15 (local time), the three major New York stock indices fell collectively for the second consecutive day as US Treasury yields and international oil prices continued their upward trend.

On this day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 328.09 points (0.63%) at 52,093.11.

The S&P 500 index fell 34.25 points (0.45%) to 7,585.73, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index closed down 204.84 points (0.78%) at 25,981.57.

Selling of US Treasuries expanded ahead of the Federal Reserve's (Fed) benchmark interest rate decision scheduled for September 16.

The 10-year US Treasury yield, a global benchmark for interest rates, rose to 5.041% this morning, marking its highest level since July 2007.

Subsequently, the Treasury yield pared its gains, standing at 4.995% as of 3:00 PM, up 3.5 bps (1 bp = 0.01 percentage point) from the previous session.

The 2-year US Treasury yield rose 2.8 bps to 4.661%, and the 30-year yield rose 3.6 bps to 5.362%.

As geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and concerns over crude oil supply disruptions grew, international oil prices surged to their highest levels since May 19.

Brent crude futures for November delivery rose 2.90% to $108.75 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for October delivery rose 4.38% to $105.83 per barrel.

Following the closure of Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline after an attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels, crude oil loading operations at the Red Sea Yanbu terminal were suspended.

In Libya, operations at three oil fields were also suspended, adding upward pressure on oil prices.

The combination of high interest rates and high oil prices significantly dampened sentiment for risk assets.

In particular, shares of restaurant and retail companies fell sharply amid concerns that consumer spending capacity could shrink.

Cryptocurrency-related stocks also showed weakness.

On this day, as the US Senate failed to pass the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, known as the Clarity Act, which contains a comprehensive regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency market, combined with political uncertainty, Coinbase plummeted over 10% and Robinhood slipped 3.4%.

Bitcoin prices also fell 5.3% to drop below $75,000.

Artificial intelligence (AI)-related stocks, which had plunged the previous day, showed a relatively stable trend as bargain hunting flowed in.

Nvidia recovered its losses from the previous day to rise 0.6%, and AMD also rose 2.2%.

Market participants are now keeping a close eye on the Fed's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) interest rate decision, which is just one day away.

According to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) FedWatch, the interest rate futures market raised the probability of the Fed raising the benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points in September to 94.5%.

(Photo: Getty Images)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.