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Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures drift higher despite Treasury yield pressures persisting
Grace O’Donnell· Editor, Special Projects
Updated Fri, August 21, 2026 at 2:30 PM GMT+5:30
2 min read
US stock futures rose on Friday as investors awaited more details on President Trump’s “economic warfare” plan against Iran and the Treasury’s boost to bond buybacks hasn’t soothed markets
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) and the S&P 500 (ES=F) rose 0.2%. Contracts for the Nasdaq-100 (NQ=F) gained 0.4% after stocks closed down the day before
Stocks were headed for weekly losses after a bond sell-off this week put pressure on capital-intensive AI and tech names like Nvidia (NVDA) and SpaceX (SPCX)
On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent shared plans to expand bond buybacks and increase the program’s size beyond $4 billion per issue. “Part of it is signaling here to show that we believe yields don’t reflect the underlying fundamentals,” Bessent told CNBC
But relief in the bond market lasted only a short while as markets viewed the measure as a limited fix, with the 10-year (^TNX) and 30-year Treasury yields (^TYX) snapping back to previously held higher levels
Investors are now looking ahead to Bessent’s press conference on Monday, where he will unveil the details of the US’s plan to economically isolate Iran in the latest phase of the Middle East war. Earlier in the week, Trump threatened to inflict “TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences” on any country that trades with Iran, which put the focus on China, which
The Fed’s Jackson Hole Symposium and Nvidia’s second quarter earnings next week are also coming into view. In the meantime, the release of S&P Global’s Purchasing Managers’ Index will provide investors with a read on the health of the manufacturing and services sector, while quarterly results from BJ’s Wholesale Club (BJ) will serve to corroborate, or refute, signs of consumer pressure expressed by other retailers this week
