US stocks rose Thursday as Treasury yields pulled back from a multi-year high, after Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller signaled he could back holding interest rates steady this month. The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all extended a rebound that began the previous session, as a soft private payrolls report and easing bond yields gave equities room to breathe.
US stocks climbed Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 401 points, or 0.8%, as Treasury yields fell after Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller signaled support for holding interest rates steady this month. The S&P 500 rose 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.6% in the same session.
The gains follow a stronger session a day earlier, when the Dow closed at 53,061.95, up 295.07 points, or 0.56%, the S&P 500 finished at 7,666.60, up 0.46%, and the Nasdaq Composite ended at 26,217.83, up 0.45%.
Waller's remarks cool rate-hike bets
Waller said he would be, according to CNBC, “inclined to support holding the target for the federal funds rate at its current setting” if upcoming inflation data keeps showing disinflation. Bets that the Fed would raise rates this month fell to 48.4% after his remarks, down from 63.2% a day earlier, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
Yields retreat from a multi-year high
The 10-year Treasury yield last traded around 4.75%, retreating from a high of 4.818% touched a day earlier — its highest level since November 2023. Treasury yields had climbed for weeks on persistent inflation concerns, geopolitical tensions and bets the Fed wasn't finished tightening, making the push above 4.8% a psychological threshold that made equity investors visibly nervous. The pullback also followed a private payrolls report showing just 38,000 jobs added in August, well below the expected range of 46,000 to 53,000, and New York Fed President John Williams's comments that the rise in yields reflected mostly a robust economy rather than tighter financial conditions.
Jobless claims tick up, trade gap widens
Separately, weekly jobless claims rose to 206,000, up 2,000 from the prior week and slightly above the 205,000 forecast, the Labor Department said. The U.S. trade deficit jumped 24.4% in July to $88.6 billion, the highest level since March 2025, as capital goods imports climbed on the artificial intelligence buildout, the Commerce Department reported.
Sources: Crypto Briefing, CNBC
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