Wall Street rallies, Dow up 624 as yields fall on Fed remarks — September 4, 2026

Top U.S. Stories

• U.S. stocks closed sharply higher on Thursday, Sept. 3. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 624.16 points (1.18%) to 53,686.11, its best day since Aug. 4. The S&P 500 gained 1.06% to 7,747.71 and the Nasdaq Composite added about 1.4% to 26,584.06.
  • Why it matters: The rally was driven by falling bond yields, not stronger earnings. The 10-year Treasury yield eased to 4.77% after Fed Governor Christopher Waller said he would be “inclined to support” holding rates steady absent an inflation surprise — a reminder that rate expectations, more than growth, are steering this market.
• Oil stayed elevated, with WTI around $90 a barrel as the six-month U.S.-Iran conflict kept tension high around the Strait of Hormuz. Six commodity vessels crossed the strait Wednesday, below the recent daily average of about 13, keeping supply concerns alive.
  • Why it matters: Persistently high crude feeds through to gasoline, shipping and food costs. It keeps a floor under inflation and makes the Fed’s path to rate cuts harder, just as the Nov. 3 midterms approach.
• Since the Supreme Court’s February ruling that IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs — voiding the administration’s “reciprocal” and fentanyl-related tariffs — the White House has been shifting toward Section 232 and other statutory grounds.
• Broadcom shares fell despite an earnings beat, as investors treated the results as a “sell the news” moment even amid the broader rally.
• In sports, the NBA suspended Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer for one year and fined the team $30 million over salary-cap circumvention tied to Kawhi Leonard.

Markets

Thursday was a “lower yields, higher stocks” session. Waller’s comments pushed the 10-year Treasury yield down to 4.77%, lifting rate-sensitive technology shares. Crude held in the low $90s (WTI), with Brent near $95. The dollar traded around 156 yen (Sept. 3 ECB reference), with the yen near a one-month high as markets priced in a possible Bank of Japan rate hike at its Sept. 17-18 meeting.

Stocks in Focus

• Japanese trading houses (Mitsubishi Corp., Mitsui & Co.): rose after Berkshire Hathaway reaffirmed it intends to hold the shares for the long term.
• Big Tech and semiconductors: bought back as yields fell; Broadcom was the exception, slipping after results.
• Energy: supported by firm crude prices and Middle East risk.

This is information, not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.

Compass Insight

The market’s logic today is simple — lower yields, higher stocks — but the foundation is shaky. One Fed official’s remark was enough to pull the 10-year down, yet oil is still in the low $90s. If shipping through Hormuz thins, higher pump and utility prices would follow, and central banks would find it harder to cut. The near-term hinges on this month’s U.S. inflation prints and the BOJ’s mid-September meeting: a hot number could reverse the rally quickly. Further out, watch two unstable “upstream” forces on prices — a tariff framework thrown into flux by the Supreme Court, and a war premium in crude that refuses to fade. Households with floating-rate debt should assume borrowing costs can still rise, even as headline rates drift lower for now.