Trading Day: Stocks find footing as Treasury yields ease

By Stephen Culp

NEW YORK, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Wall Street embarked on a new quarter with a nominally higher close on Thursday as the benchmark US Treasury yield eased back from multi-year highs after seven straight days of gains.

After a raft of generally upbeat economic data, focus turns to Friday's employment report, which is expected to show the US economy added 90,000 jobs in September, with the jobless rate holding firm at 4.1%.

I will go into more detail on today's market moves below. If you have more time to read, here are a few articles I recommend to help you make sense of what happened in markets today.

1. The global bond selloff has sent borrowing costs surging to levels not seen in decades

2. Even so, global bond markets are functioning as they should, according to the IMF

3. US factory activity expansion steady as input prices jump

4. US labor market is firming, as dip in jobless claims points to low layoffs

5. Iran is planning a forceful response if US attacks resume, while negotiations continue

Today's Key Market Moves

• STOCKS: Wall Street reversed an earlier selloff to close higher as bond yields eased, while European stocks closed at three-month lows

• SECTORS/SHARES: Energy, chips, software & services and Dow Transports were outperformers on the day, while healthcare and communication services were the clear laggards. Micron and Accenture both jumped after the companies provided better-than-expected revenue forecasts

• FX: The dollar hit a 17-month high against the euro amid rising bond yields and oil prices

• BONDS: The benchmark US Treasury yield pulled back from a 24-year high as buyers stepped in, snapping a seven-session streak of gains

• COMMODITIES/METALS: Crude prices settled higher after China halted oil products exports; gold gained on dampening Fed rate hike bets

Today's Talking Points

* Nvidia's enormous financing plan raises questions

AI chipmaker Nvidia's financing plan has raised questions on Wall Street over how much the company's advanced chips and the infrastructure surrounding them are worth.

Some lenders want higher guarantees than the company had originally outlined as they try to assess how long the revenue from its chips will last, banking sources and credit managers told Reuters.

The mismatch between Nvidia and Wall Street raises potential future financing headaches for AI companies seeking to tap deep new pools of capital.

* Russia sends nuclear warning to NATO

Russia has warned NATO that it would be ready to resort to nuclear weapons in retaliation for any attempt to cut off Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea, accusing the Western alliance of a "dangerous and reckless course" in the document viewed by Reuters.

"Russia will be ready to use the entire arsenal of forces and capabilities at its disposal, including nuclear weapons, in order to defend its territory should NATO countries undertake any attempt aimed at isolating the Kaliningrad Region from the ​rest of the country," the note said.

* Hackers impersonated an ex-US official to steal emails from AI experts

Hackers — dubbed "TA419" by cybersecurity firm Proofpoint — have been impersonating US AI experts, including a former government official, in attempts to steal emails from experts at AI think tanks, universities and other organizations.

In a report, Proofpoint said that it had watched the hackers regularly try to steal passwords since as far back as 2025, and attributed the campaign to the TA419 based on the malware used, the internet infrastructure used to carry out the attacks, and the targets the group was focusing on.

What could move markets tomorrow?

• Developments in the Middle East

• Energy market moves

• Bond yields

• Social media posts from Trump

• US employment (September)

• US factory orders (August)

• EU CPI (September)

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