Wall Street fretted over Iran and fuel costs—as the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note reached a 19-year high. The pressures of a punishing selloff in the bond market just won’t let up. Stocks slumped and yields touched multiyear highs Monday after President Trump rejected a proposal for a seven-day ceasefire with Iran and the oil market flashed a warning sign that fuel supplies are running low. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note reached a fresh 19-year high, and nearly touched levels not seen since 2002.
Major U.S. equity indexes advanced on Friday, partly on hopes that U.S. and Iranian negotiators were working on a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. But a lack of progress over the weekend reignited fears of higher-for-longer fuel costs that could lift prices across the economy and spur further interest-rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. The Nasdaq composite dropped 0.9%, retracing some earlier losses. The S&P 500 had its worst day in more than a month, falling 0.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 0.7%, or about 347 points.
“It’s more of the same: Higher yields and higher oil prices put pressure on equities,” said Joseph Zappia, managing partner and co-chief investment officer at LVW Advisors. A deepening bond rout has driven yields to historic heights in recent weeks. Monday’s rise sent several fixed-income exchange-traded funds to their first record closing lows since October 2023. Meanwhile, oil prices are still hovering near triple digits. The price of November deliveries for Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 0.9% to $105.28 a barrel.
The market’s largest U.S. company was also among its few bright spots on Monday: Shares of Nvidia advanced 1.7% after the artificial-intelligence giant said its board had approved a $150 billion increase to its share-repurchase program, making it the largest-ever U.S. stock buyback. Shares of MongoDB tumbled 18% after the company’s CEO was hired to lead Meta’s new business. “So far, the market has done a great job sailing into the headwinds and brushing them off,” said Bret Kenwell, U.S. investment analyst at e Toro.