Stocks fall on soaring bond yields, higher oil prices

On Wednesday (Sep 23), stock markets declined as oil prices surged and US bond yields surged due to concerns over inflation, reported the UN General Assembly. World leaders offered little indication of progress in resolving turmoil in the Middle East. The price of North Sea Brent crude climbed 3.86 per cent to US$103.08 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude increased 1.81 per cent to reach $92.16 per barrel. The benchmark US 10-year Treasury yield rose to 5.11 per cent, its highest level since 2007.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed defiance at the UN, stating Tehran would never capitulate to the United States amid the ongoing war. Earlier, US President Donald Trump had suggested at the UN that he was considering whether to annihilate Iran but later praised renewed dialogues with Tehran.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones fell 0.68 per cent, the S&P 500 slipped 0.75 per cent, and the Nasdaq declined 1.13 per cent. The US Federal Reserve had raised borrowing costs the previous week, providing comfort to traders wary of policymakers' swift action to tackle a surge in inflation. Angelo Kourkafas of Edward Jones explained to AFP that the expectation of continued Fed rate hikes, along with the lack of an off-ramp for energy markets and lackluster UN comments, had negatively impacted market sentiment regarding geopolitical risks.

Hopes for a deal to facilitate the flow of Gulf oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz had diminished as global leaders convened in New York. John Kilduff of Again Capital noted that the substance of the Iran-US meeting was limited. Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, added that a sudden spike in oil prices had caught investors off guard and revived concerns about inflationary pressures.

The OECD indicated that global economic growth remained resilient in many countries despite the war, prompting a slight increase in its economic output forecasts for 2026. European stocks experienced a decline, with Frankfurt losing 0.7 per cent and Paris dropping almost half a per cent; London remained flat. Asian indices also experienced a pullback. Hong Kong's stocks declined by 1 per cent, despite Alibaba's announcement of expanding overseas data centers, while Shanghai lost 0.4 per cent.

South Korea's tech-heavy Kospi and Taiwan's Taiex index, home to chipmaker TSMC, managed a near 1 per cent gain.