Stock futures inch higher as traders weather latest rise in Treasury yields: Live updates

Stock futures inched higher on Tuesday evening, following another session in which equities succumbed to pressure from rising bond yields.

Contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.16%. S&P 500 futures were also up 0.16%. Nasdaq-100 futures moved up 0.26%.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was poised to rise, with its Chicago futures contract at 66,345, compared with the index’s previous close of 65,481.27. Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 24,364, while the index’s last close of 24,523.57. Futures for Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 were slightly higher at 8,747, compared with the index last close.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield hit a high above 5.6% on Tuesday, reaching levels not seen since June 2002. The 10-year yield, meanwhile, scaled to a fresh 2007 high near 5.3%. Those moves led the Dow to a decline of more than 100 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq slid 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively.

Those moves came even as oil prices tumbled on the day.

Jose Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers, noted that equities are “trying to hang in there, but tighter financial conditions are emboldening the bears and lifting interest in downside hedges.”

To be sure, new comments from New York Federal Reserve President John Williams appeared to have eased fears of higher central bank rates, at least for the moment. Williams said late Tuesday, “there is no need for urgency, and we have time to gather more information” before the Fed’s October meeting.

The CME Group’s FedWatch tool shows traders are pricing in a 49% chance of a quarter-point rate hike next month. That’s down from 71% on Monday.

Heading into Wednesday, traders will have their sights set on the August reading of the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge. Economists polled by Dow Jones see the metric rising 0.3% for the month, leading to an annual pace of 3.7%.

Wednesday marks the last day of September and the third quarter. Market performance has been mixed in both timeframes. For the month, the S&P 500 and Dow are tracking for declines while the Nasdaq is up more than 1%. For the quarter, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are up 2%, while the Dow is off nearly 2%.