The Treasury doubled bond buybacks to bring down borrowing costs. The relief barely lasted
· Fortune
U.S. futures are lower as bond market pressure will have investors eyeing an annual meeting of top U.S. economic officials at Jackson Hole, Wyoming later in the week.
The future for the S&P 500 was down 0.2%. On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% for just its second gain in the six days since setting its all-time high last week. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.1%, while Nasdaq futures slipped 0.7%.
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Investors will get an important inflation update on Wednesday when the U.S. releases its report on personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, for July. It is the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation. Much like the consumer price index, it has shown that the rate of U.S. consumer inflation remains stubbornly above 3%.
Also on Wednesday, the Commerce Department will issue its second estimate of how the U.S. economy performed in the second quarter of 2026. The government’s first estimate, issued last month, showed that the U.S. economy expanded at a sluggish 1.5% pace from April through June as rising imports weighed on growth.
The Fed has been struggling to get inflation back to its target rate of 2%. Inflation has crept higher after the U.S. imposed a wide range of tariffs globally. It has climbed further as the Iran war slowed global oil shipments from the Strait of Hormuz.
Last week, rising bond yields forced the U.S. Treasury Department into an unusual intervention and raised the specter of higher borrowing costs weighing on consumer spending, the lifeblood of the economy. It also sparked concerns that investors balk at financing a seemingly endless flow of government borrowing.
The bond markets got only temporary relief from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s announcement that the government would double its buybacks of longer-term bonds. That was meant to bring down the 10-year Treasury yield and lower mortgages. The 10-year yield rose back to 4.73% Friday, matching its highest point in more than a year. It was at 4.72% on Monday.
The 30-year Treasury yield, which the Fed is also targeting with its bond repurchases, climbed and is near its highest level since 2007.
Higher yields can slow the economy and undercut prices for all kinds of investments.
The bond market has remained jumpy, and investors will be watching for signals from Federal Reserve Gov. Kevin Warsh regarding rates and other policies in a key speech at the annual gathering of U.S. economic leaders in Jackson Hole later this week.
U.S. markets are also starting the week with a focus on technology stocks. Shares of Sandisk dropped 5%, while Corning slid 3% and Coherent fell more than 5%. Micron Technology’s stock slipped 3%.
Oil prices also declined on Monday as Iran’s currency hit a record low as the U.S. prepared to announce new sanctions to try to break the impasse with Iran, adding pressure when its economy is already battered by earlier sanctions and a U.S. naval blockade.
The rial dropped to 2.02 million to the U.S. dollar on informal currency markets. Iran’s official Central Bank rate stood at around 1.5 million rial to the dollar, but the informal rate is what most Iranians pay.
Uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow oil tankers to freely exit the Persian Gulf again has roiled markets, causing oil prices to rise and pushing up Treasury yields due to worries over inflation.
The outlook remained murky Monday. The new head of Iran’s top security body warned Sunday that Tehran will see any country’s support for new U.S. economic measures against the Islamic Republic as an “act of war,” while Iran’s president defended a memorandum of understanding with the United States as the best way out of the stalled conflict.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil was 1.7% lower at $91.06 on Monday. U.S. benchmark crude fell 2.2% to $85.18 per barrel.
In Europe, Germany’s DAX edged down slightly to 26,133.59, while the CAC 40 in Paris also gave up 0.1%, to 8,480.49. Britain’s FTSE 100 inched up 0.2% to 10,839.52. Asian markets declined.
In other dealings, the U.S. dollar bought 159.23 Japanese yen, up from 158.94 yen late Friday. The euro fell to $1.1665 from $1.1678.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com