30-Year Treasury Yield Tops 5.4% as Trade Truce With China Shrinks to Two Months
U.S. stocks fell for a second straight session Thursday as the 30-year Treasury yield touched its highest level since 2004, according to Fool.com.
The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.8%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% and the S&P 500 slid 0.5% as of 11:25 a.m. ET, Fool.com reported.
The 30-year yield reached 5.446% Thursday, a level last seen in June 2004, Fool.com said.
CNBC put the intraday peak closer to 5.44% before it eased to 5.399% later in the session, and reported that the 10-year Treasury yield touched its highest mark since July 2007 before slipping back to 5.10%.
President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met Thursday. The two governments extended their trade truce by just two months beyond its Nov. 10 expiration, Fool.com reported. China had pushed for a three-year extension.
Fed Rate-Hike Bets Diverge
Odds of an October Federal Reserve rate increase stood at 71% Thursday, up from about 55% a week earlier, Fool.com reported, citing the CME Group's FedWatch tool.
CNBC put the same probability above 75%, versus roughly 49% a week prior, in an earlier reading of that tool Thursday.
Federal Reserve Governor Michael Barr said Wednesday that further policy adjustments are likely needed to bring inflation down to the central bank's target, CNBC reported.
Mike Sanders, head of fixed income at Madison Investments, told CNBC that fiscal, economic, geopolitical and supply-side pressures are converging in ways bond markets have not faced recently, and that rising yields can no longer be blamed on deficit worries alone.
The selloff was global. Japan's 10-year government bond yield climbed to its highest level since August 1996, and yields on U.K. gilts and German bunds also hit multiyear highs, CNBC reported.
Wednesday's session had already produced the 10-year Treasury's biggest one-day jump since April 7, 2025.
Oil and Diesel Add to Inflation Worries
Oil prices climbed toward $100 a barrel Thursday morning. Crude also rose roughly 1% overnight after an adviser to Iran's supreme leader warned that Iran and Houthi forces could open a new front against Red Sea energy shipments, Fool.com reported.
A commercial vessel was struck Wednesday in the Strait of Hormuz, killing one Indian crew member.
Diesel averaged $6.51 a gallon Thursday, $2.82 higher than a year earlier, Fool.com reported. Trump has pushed within his own administration for a ban on U.S. diesel exports.
The Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute warned in a joint letter that such a ban would cut production and raise prices instead of lowering them.
Mortgage rates climbed to a multiyear high of 7.1%, Fool.com reported.
Dow Losses Traced to Two Stocks
Goldman Sachs shares fell 2.2%, subtracting 119 points from the Dow, and Caterpillar dropped 2.1%, removing another 100 points, Fool.com reported.Oracle also weighed on technology shares after a data center setback, Fool.com reported, adding fresh attention to the company's $125 billion in debt, and the pullback followed a stretch that had included a record Nasdaq close.
Eighteen of the Dow's 30 components traded lower Thursday, Fool.com reported.