# Bonds Take the Wheel as the 10-Year Hits a 52-Week High and Growth Stocks Pay Up - Daily Market Wrap - Tuesday, September 1, 2026 > Daily Market Wrap for Tuesday, September 1, 2026: the 10-year Treasury yield pushed to a 52-week high of 4.80 percent and crude jumped roughly 5 percent, knocking every major index lower, while Dell fell 6.9 percent despite a record AI quarter and California utilities snapped back from Monday's crash. ## Daily Market Wrap ### Tuesday, September 1, 2026: Bonds Take the Wheel as the 10-Year Hits a 52-Week High and Growth Stocks Pay Up --- A jump in Treasury yields and a 5% spike in oil put the macro back in charge. High-flying tech got sold, defensives and utilities won, and the VIX popped nearly 10%. ## The day in numbers * *S&P 500:* 7,632.60, *-0.70%* (-53.54) * *Nasdaq Composite:* 26,099.77, *-1.03%* (-271.11) * *Dow Jones Industrial Average:* 52,766.88, *-0.79%* (-419.02) * *Russell 2000* (small caps): 2,920.13, *-1.23%* (-36.32) * *VIX* (the "fear gauge," which rises when investors get nervous): 16.34, *+9.5%* * *10-year Treasury yield:* *4.80%*, up about 4 basis points (0.04 percentage points), a fresh 52-week high; the 30-year sits near 5.28% * *Best sectors:* Utilities *+1.37%*, Communication Services *+0.56%* (the only two green) * *Worst sectors:* Industrials *-0.92%*, Financials *-0.86%*, Real Estate *-0.65%*, Technology *-0.57%* The tell of the day: small caps and rate-sensitive groups fell hardest, defensives held up, and volatility jumped. That is the classic signature of a market pushed around by bond yields, not by any single company. ## Big Story 1: The bond market took the wheel *What happened.* Treasury yields kept grinding higher, with the 10-year note, the benchmark that sets the cost of mortgages, corporate loans and the "risk-free" rate against which stocks are valued, pushing to *4.80%*, its highest in a year. The 30-year is now around *5.28%*. That, plus a *~5% jump in crude oil*, was enough to knock every major index lower and send the VIX up almost 10%. The morning's data did not help: the *ISM Manufacturing index* (a widely-watched survey of factory activity, where above 50 means expansion) came in at *54.6 for August, below the 55.2 expected* and down from 55.6. The catch was the "Prices Paid" sub-index, a gauge of what factories pay for materials, stuck at a hot *71.1*, a sign inflation pressure is not cooling. Construction spending also fell 0.5% in July. *Why it happened.* This is the part that surprises people used to the "Fed is about to cut" story of recent years: that is not the world right now. With the federal funds rate at *3.50%-3.75%*, futures markets are pricing roughly a *two-in-three chance the Fed raises rates* at its September 16 meeting, and essentially *zero chance of a cut*. The repricing followed a hawkish (inflation-focused) message from Fed Chair Kevin Warsh at the Jackson Hole conference on August 28, reinforced by Governor Michael Barr today. Add a global bond sell-off, with Japan's 10-year yield topping *3.00% for the first time since 1996* and euro-zone inflation running hot at *3.3%* in August, and an oil spike on reports of fresh US-Iran military escalation near the Strait of Hormuz, and you get rising yields plus rising energy costs. That combination is poison for expensive, fast-growing "long-duration" stocks (companies whose value rests on profits far in the future, which are worth less when interest rates rise). *What people said.* Fed officials are leaning into the hawkish message. > "It's hard to say that Fed policy is restrictive when you look at the economy right now." Kevin Warsh, Federal Reserve Chair, at Jackson Hole (Aug 28) > "If inflation appears not to be moderating sufficiently, then I think we should act decisively to raise rates." Michael Barr, Federal Reserve Governor, speaking in Washington today Strategists framed today's drop as the macro reasserting control: > "The macro is back in control and we're going to have a couple of months until the next corporate updates. So we may potentially be entering a period of choppiness or consolidation." Angelo Kourkafas, Senior Global Investment Strategist, Edward Jones > "We are on a warning track, in terms of how quickly long-end rates have gone up. I would argue all those rates of change are probably a bit too fast." Sameer Samana, Head of Global Equities & Real Assets, Wells Fargo Investment Institute The casualties were exactly where you would expect, the priciest growth names. *Cadence Design Systems fell 7.6%*, *Axon dropped 8.5%*, and even recent winners got hit: *CrowdStrike slid 6.9%*, giving back part of a roughly 20% surge it enjoyed after a blowout earnings report on August 26. Nothing broke at these companies today; they were simply the most expensive seats on a bus the bond market was steering downhill. ## Big Story 2: Dell had a record AI quarter, and the stock fell 6.9% anyway *What happened.* Dell Technologies *(-6.87% to $424.68)* delivered one of the most eye-popping earnings reports of the season, and investors sold it. For its fiscal second quarter, Dell reported *revenue of $46.97 billion, up 58% year-over-year*, and *adjusted earnings of $7.04 per share, up 203%* and well ahead of the ~$4.91 analysts expected. The engine was AI servers: *$16.4 billion in AI-server revenue (double a year ago)*, a record *$60.9 billion in AI-server orders* booked in the quarter, and an AI order backlog that ballooned to *$95 billion*. Dell *raised* its full-year revenue outlook by $25 billion to *$192 billion*. *Why it happened.* A great quarter is not the same as a great stock reaction when the shares are already up roughly 240% for the year. Expectations were sky-high, so this was a "sell the news" move. Under the hood, three things worried investors: * *Margins.* AI servers are lower-margin than Dell's other products, so booking more of them dilutes overall profitability. * *"Memflation."* Memory-chip prices (HBM, DRAM, NAND) have surged. Because much of Dell's backlog is priced under contracts signed months ago, delivering it while paying today's inflated chip prices squeezes margins. * *Cash.* Even as reported profit soared, *operating cash flow fell 13% to $2.23 billion*, as the cash tied up in building and shipping all those AI systems grew. *What people said.* Management leaned hard into the demand story. > "That's clearest in our AI server business where we booked a record $60.9 billion in orders, recognized a record $16.4 billion in revenue and exited the quarter with a record $95 billion backlog. We're seeing broader revenue growth as well, with traditional servers and networking up 122%, storage up 26% and our client solutions up 20% year over year." Jeff Clarke, Vice Chairman and COO, Dell Tellingly, the analyst community mostly *raised* price targets after the print, Evercore ISI to $550, JPMorgan to $565, Wells Fargo to $545, a strong sign the pullback was about a stretched stock and this week's rate scare, not a broken business. ## Big Story 3: California utilities snap back after Monday's crash *What happened.* The day's best S&P sector was Utilities *(+1.37%)*, and the standouts were two California power companies: *Edison International jumped 8.93% to $58.80* and *PG&E rose 5.95% to $14.06*. That is a rebound, not a fresh rally. Both stocks were crushed on Monday (Edison fell more than 20%, its worst day in decades) after California lawmakers gutted a wildfire bill, *SB 492*, stripping out the liability protections Wall Street had been counting on: a $6 billion-per-incident cap on the state Wildfire Fund and immunity from certain insurance claims. *Why it happened.* As the legislative deadline arrived, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas declined to bring the watered-down bill to a floor vote, letting the session end without passing a half-measure and pointing to comprehensive reform next year. Paired with a badly oversold, heavily-shorted stock, that was enough to spark a sharp bounce. *What people said.* > "The proposal before us does not yet deliver the relief, accountability or meaningful reform that Californians deserve. So, we are going back to work, and we will not stop until we have done everything in our power to deliver real results." Robert Rivas, California Assembly Speaker > "I know we all hate utilities, so no one wants to defend a utility, but you've got to deal with reality. This thing's not going to get better on its own." Governor Gavin Newsom, to reporters (via CalMatters) Worth flagging for anyone tempted to chase it: the bounce came *despite* a wave of downgrades. Bank of America cut both to Neutral (slashing PG&E's target from $24 to $13), and BMO warned of "open-ended wildfire-related tail risk." The legislative overhang has not gone away, it has been deferred. ## Quick Hits * *Moderna (+9.93% to $154.27)* was the biggest large-cap gainer, on renewed enthusiasm for messenger-RNA technology after GSK pushed its own mRNA flu vaccine into late-stage trials, read by investors as validation of the whole field. Moderna also closed a *$2.6 billion convertible note offering*, clearing a financing overhang. It is still riding momentum from mid-August Phase 3 cancer-vaccine data with Merck. CEO *Stéphane Bancel* called that readout "a big moment for medicine, a big moment for patients." * *Novartis (+6.04% to $161.25)* rose after its oral multiple-sclerosis drug *remibrutinib* beat a standard-of-care rival in two Phase 3 trials with a clean liver-safety profile. Bank of America called it a "best-case outcome," seeing multibillion-dollar sales potential. * *Oil roared higher:* WTI crude settled *+5.2% at $90.22*, Brent *+4.6% at $94.65*, on reports of US-Iran military escalation near the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil chokepoint. That lifted *Petrobras (+5.06%)* and *Ecopetrol (+4.68%)*. * *CrowdStrike (-6.9%)*, as noted above, a pullback from a post-earnings 52-week high, not a bad report. Its August 26 quarter was a record: net new annual recurring revenue (the new subscription revenue added in the period) of *$333 million, up 51%*. CEO *George Kurtz* called it "our very best quarter in company history." * *Interactive Brokers (-7.09%)* fell after UBS analyst Michael Brown downgraded it to Neutral on valuation, and it was dropped from Goldman Sachs's Conviction List. * *Credo Technology (-8.65%)* sold off ahead of its own earnings, then *beat* after the close (revenue $479M, EPS $1.20 vs. $1.17 expected), a "buy the rumor, sell the news" setup. * *SharkNinja (-9.13%)* and *JFrog (-8.28%)* both dropped on disclosed insider selling layered on top of the broad risk-off in high-multiple stocks. * *Old Dominion Freight Line (-6.48%)* got caught in the industrials and transports selling as higher yields and pricier oil pressured the group. * *Pershing Square USA (-10.25%)*, Bill Ackman's newer closed-end fund, kept unwinding on discount-to-value pressure. * *Nuclear play BWX Technologies (+6.07%)* rose after Cathie Wood's ARK funds bought shares, spotlighting it as an AI-data-center power supplier. *CF Industries (+4.28%)* broke ground on a $3.7 billion low-carbon ammonia joint venture in Louisiana. *HP Inc. (+4.33%)* extended post-earnings gains, and *CNH Industrial (+5.66%)* got a Baird upgrade. *A quick note on sourcing: figures and quotes above are drawn from today's market data, company earnings releases and calls, Federal Reserve remarks, and news reporting (including CalMatters, Utility Dive, CNBC and company statements). The Strait of Hormuz escalation driving the oil move is based on same-day news reports.* --- ## Get the full transcripts on Matterfact This briefing was produced with Matterfact, which indexes the complete, full-text transcripts of 120M+ podcast episodes alongside SEC filings, earnings calls, and financial datasets. 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