U.S. stock futures fell Thursday as Treasury yields reversed Wednesday's decline, with Walmart stock adding to the pressure after the retailer's earnings outlook disappointed.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were off 357 points, or 0.7%, with S&P 500 futures down 0.4% and Nasdaq-100 futures declining 0.7%.
The 10-year Treasury note yield climbed more than 5 basis points to 4.704%, and the 30-year yield rose 6 basis points to reach 5.254%. Wednesday's retreat in yields had come after the Treasury Department announced it would at least double repurchases of 10-, 20-, and 30-year debt over the coming months — a move Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made after the 30-year yield climbed to a nearly 20-year high earlier this week. ING analysts characterized the buyback effort as "rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic," according to The Wall Street Journal .
Michael Schumacher, former head of macro at Wells Fargo, said he remains pessimistic on bonds. "I'm still negative. I think long-term rates go up for a few reasons. In the U.S. case in particular, there's just a huge budget deficit. Not much sign that's going to improve. On top of that, you've got defense spending going up," he told CNBC . "I think that was the case really before the conflict in Iran, and that's intensified."
Walmart stock tumbled more than 6% after the company's adjusted profit guidance for the third quarter and full year fell short of what analysts had projected, a disappointment that overshadowed an otherwise stronger-than-expected second-quarter revenue figure and a raised full-year sales outlook.
Oil prices also weighed on sentiment. WTI crude futures gained 3% to top $88 a barrel, and Brent futures advanced 3% to trade above $94. The moves followed a Truth Social post from President Donald Trump late Wednesday in which he threatened what he called the "most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country" against Iran. "This will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale," he wrote.
Wall Street had notched gains on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 breaking a three-session skid as longer-dated Treasury yields retreated from multi-year peaks in the wake of the buyback announcement.
