Stock futures were flat on Wednesday after major averages added to weeks of losses amid a jump in bond yields in the previous session.
Futures related to the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded just 7 points higher. S&P 500 futures rose slightly by 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.2%.
Shares added to their three-week low on Tuesday. The Dow Jones fell about 173 points, or 0.5%, and the S&P 500 fell 0.4%. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.7% to post its first seven-day losing streak since 2016.
The moves came amid a surge in bond yields that saw the 10-year US Treasury yield rise to its highest level since June. The price on 30-year Treasuries closed at the highest level since 2014. Bond yields move inversely with prices. Prices were slightly lower on Wednesday, with the 10-year traded at 3.321%. The 2-year and 30-year returns are trading at 3.47% and 3.472%, respectively.
Investors are divided over how to approach the market as the first week after Labor Day in September enters a tough month for stocks. All eyes are on the 3900 level on the S&P 500. Some see the index dropping to its lows, while others are bullish on a year-end rally.
“It’s a battlefield,” Cameron Dawson, chief investment officer at NewEdge Wealth, said on CNBC.Shutting Bell: Overtime“.” “It was resistance and support, and anytime you have these places where you have a lot of resistance and support reinforcement, we’re going to have a lot of fighting to see where we push either above or below it.”
“If we have 3900, that’s a bullish sign,” she added. “It means the market is inhaling some change in liquidity, ready to put a higher multiplier on things on a sustainable basis…If we don’t, 3600 will be up in short order.”
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will present its summary of current economic conditions, also known as beige book. Elsewhere, Fed Chairs Loretta Meester of Cleveland and Tom Barkin of Richmond, as well as Fed Vice Chair Lyle Brainard, are scheduled to speak at various events.
