Stan Chow Updated September 11, 2026 — 6:27 am,first published 5:23 am Save You have reached the maximum number of items saved. Remove items from the saved list to add new ones. AAA Oil prices continue to rise as the war with Iran continues to block global oil flows, and on Thursday they jumped to their highest levels since pre-year. That fueled concerns about inflation and added pressure on the bond market, contributing to another decline in stocks on Wall Street. The S&P 500 fell 0.6%, suffering its fourth straight loss, its longest such streak since June, although it is not far from its record high set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 316 points, or 0.6 percent, and the Nasdaq fell 0.7 percent. Oil rose to its highest level since March. AP The Australian share market is set for another day of heavy losses, with futures at 6:13am AEST pointing to a loss of 81 points or 0.9 percent at the open. The ASX lost 1 percent on Thursday. The Australian dollar fell to 71.56 cents. US stock indices fell under the weight of rising oil prices. Brent crude, the international standard, rose a further 6.3% to briefly top US$108 a barrel for the first time since May before settling at US$107.63. The price jumped from less than US$72 in early July as hopes faded that a war with Iran would allow oil to flow freely from the Middle East again any time soon. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that oil prices likely won’t fall until after the US midterm elections in November. The jump pushed the price of a gallon of regular gasoline to an average of nearly $4.28 across the United States, according to AAA. That’s up nearly 34 percent from the year before, and not only does it cost people more at the pump, but it also means higher prices for all kinds of products that are trucked to store shelves. A report released Thursday said U.S. wholesale inflation accelerated to 5.4 percent last month from 4.8 percent in July, and retailers could end up passing on such price increases to shoppers. A report will be released on Friday that will show how high inflation is in the US. A typical move to curb high inflation is for the Federal Reserve to raise its main interest rate, the federal funds rate. Such a move then filters down to the rest of the bond market, making it more expensive for American households and businesses to borrow money, slowing the overall economy and driving down investment prices. We hope this will eliminate some of the fuel for inflation. A report released Thursday said the U.S. labor market may remain stable as fewer workers filed for unemployment benefits last week. That could give the Fed more confidence that the economy can handle higher interest rates. After Thursday’s reports, traders see about a 73 percent chance that the Fed will raise the federal funds rate at its meeting next week. That’s up from the 61 percent chance seen the day before, according to CME Group. This is despite Trump’s consistent lobbying for lower interest rates rather than higher ones. The European Central Bank, the Fed’s peer in Europe, raised its own interest rates on Thursday in hopes of containing inflation. It mentioned “the conflict in the Middle East” and how it “continues to create inflationary pressures.” All of this lifted the 10-year Treasury yield to 4.95 percent from 4.83 percent late Wednesday, a significant move for the bond market. This comes after the Fed raised the federal funds rate to get better control over super-high inflation caused by the COVID pandemic. Higher yields mean investors can make more money by putting their money into bonds, which in turn can make investors less willing to pay high prices for stocks and other investments that are riskier than bonds. Some investors see the 5% yield on the 10-year Treasury note as the next potential flashpoint. But strategists at Bank of America’s Investment Research Committee suggest 7 percent may be a more important threshold, pointing to peaks for pricey stocks around this point in the past. Meanwhile, rising 10-year Treasury yields are making mortgages more expensive and hurting the housing sector. One report Thursday said the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate hit its highest level in more than 14 months, while a second said sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in August to their slowest pace in more than a year. That contributed to declines in homebuilder stocks, including a 3.5% drop in Lennar and a 2.4% drop in DR Horton. On Wall Street, Macy’s shares fell 4.7% even though the retailer reported higher earnings and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts had expected. In raising its profit forecast for this financial year, the company warned that “there are macroeconomic and geopolitical factors that may impact” how much its customers feel comfortable spending. Macy’s said it received US$116 million ($162 million) in tariff reimbursements from the government – US$98 million during the quarter and another US$18 million after the end of the quarter. Macy’s CEO Tony Spring told The Associated Press on Thursday that the company is using some of the proceeds to lower prices on certain items such as furniture and other big-ticket purchases. Overall, the S&P 500 fell 44.66 points to 7,591.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 316.56 to 52,064.10 and the Nasdaq fell 171.62 to 26,081.72. On foreign stock markets, indices fell in most of Europe and Asia. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.3%, one of the biggest in the world. AP The Market Recap newsletter provides an overview of the day’s trading. Receive every weekday afternoon. Save You have reached the maximum number of items saved. Remove items from the saved list to add new ones. From our partners Post navigation Irish Open: Rory McIlroy four behind leader Joaquin Niemann at Irish Open New ‘code’ found in Egypt’s Great Pyramid may finally reveal its true purpose