(Bloomberg) — Treasuries steadied in early Asian trading after a rush of corporate-debt sales and worries over developed-world budgets sent bonds and stocks lower.
US 30-year bond yields held close to 5% on Wednesday after a spike overnight weighed on tech shares on Wall Street. Ultra-long bonds in Japan also fell, sending yields on the 30-year higher by more than six basis points to 3.265%. Asian stocks followed the US lower at the open.
Alphabet Inc. gained more than 7% in after-hours trading as a federal judge ruled Google won’t be forced to sell its Chrome browser.
The dollar rose for a second consecutive day and gold held its gains after closing at a record high. The yen weakened after a report said Japan’s ruling party is set to call for early party elections.
Traders are contending with a range of concerns, from key economic data and US tariffs to Federal Reserve independence, monetary policy and global fiscal prospects. This comes as the stock market appears to be at a crossroads, with the S&P 500 having logged its smallest monthly gain since July 2024.
“A breach of 5% on the US 30-year will likely further increase the focus on these issues,” said Andrew Ticehurst, a Nomura Holdings Inc. strategist in Sydney. Long bonds are under real pressure from poor deficit and debt metrics in many countries and, in the US, from Fed-related concerns, he said.
Along with a slew of corporate sales, there’s been renewed concern about longer-dated global debt after years of issuance exacerbated budget deficits. In the UK, the yield on long-dated bonds hit the highest since 1998 and the pound sank as pressure mounted on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to manage the budget.
US Treasuries sold off in the last session, following a slump in long-dated European bonds at the start of a month historically tough for long bonds.
In Asia, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. will be in focus after the US revoked the company’s authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base. TSMC’s US-listed American depositary receipts slipped as much as 2.3% Tuesday.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said his administration would ask the Supreme Court for an expedited ruling in hopes of overturning a federal court decision that many of his tariffs were illegally imposed. “The stock market’s down because the stock market needs the tariffs. They want the tariffs,” the president said.
Traders will be looking to key US labor market data this week for clues on economic growth and the Fed’s policy outlook. Employers showed little enthusiasm to take on workers during August, and the unemployment rate probably ticked up to an almost four-year high, adding to evidence of a more subdued jobs market.
The importance of this week’s economic data will ultimately drive where yields are by Friday’s close – even if there is a lot that could shift investors’ perception of the state of the labor market in the interim,” said Ian Lyngen and Vail Hartman at BMO Capital Markets.
On the economic front, US factory activity shrank in August for a sixth straight month, driven by a pullback in production that shows manufacturing remains bogged down by higher import duties.
“The ISM manufacturing report indicated that companies are largely managing headcount rather than actively hiring,” said Scott Helfstein at Global X. “This may be a clue ahead of Friday’s jobs numbers. New jobs are likely slowing, but meaningful revisions to data over the prior months could mean that the report, good or bad, may not influence investors much.”
Helfstein said investors should pay close attention to wage growth in Friday’s job report.
“Wages have been outpacing inflation and that is usually a good sign for consumption,” he said. “While defaults are going up slightly, most of the numbers on consumer behavior have remained robust.”
S&P 500 futures rose 0.1% as of 9:35 a.m. Tokyo time Japan’s Topix fell 0.1% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.6% Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.7% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1630 The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 148.67 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.1401 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin was little changed at $111,519.61 Ether rose 0.2% to $4,321.55 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 4.27% Japan’s 10-year yield was unchanged at 1.625% Australia’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 4.37% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed Spot gold rose 0.2% to $3,540.03 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
