Global Bond Rout and Iran Strikes Send Stocks and Tech Shares Lower on September 1

U.S. equity markets opened September under broad pressure as a global bond selloff, fresh military strikes on Iran, and surging oil prices combined to revive inflation and interest-rate-hike fears. The Nasdaq 100 fell as much as 1.30%, the S&P 500 slid roughly 0.66%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped about 0.43% by midday.

The immediate catalyst was a fresh escalation in the U.S.-Iran conflict. Two Saudi oil tanks were struck in the Strait of Hormuz, driving crude oil to $92 a barrel on Tuesday. The strait once handled around 20 million barrels per day; analysts and tracking firms now estimate actual daily exports at between 2 million and 9 million barrels. President Trump said the U.S. would retaliate against Iran's latest strikes, sustaining the geopolitical premium in energy markets. Chevron and ExxonMobil saw relative strength in pre-market trading as WTI futures advanced.

The oil spike fed directly into the bond market, where the 10-year Treasury yield hit its highest level since January 2025, a 19-month peak. Japan's benchmark yield crossed the 3% milestone, deepening a global duration shock. London shares also slid after the holiday weekend as European equities dropped to multi-week lows. Investors interpreted the yield surge as raising the probability of Federal Reserve rate hikes, with key data points including the jobs report, CPI, and the next FOMC meeting all due within the first two weeks of September.

Semiconductors bore the heaviest selling in pre-market and early trading. SanDisk led decliners, dropping 3.24% to $1,566.70 on memory-sector supply concerns. Intel fell 2.45% to $89.51, SK Hynix slid 2.06% to $164.58 amid worries over expanding Chinese memory manufacturing capacity, Micron dropped 2.06% to $958.73, AMD slipped 1.73% to $470.72, and Nvidia declined 1.49% to $220.78. Broadcom traded under pressure ahead of its upcoming Q3 FY26 earnings release. Amazon shares also dipped after a joint FTC and 22-state lawsuit alleged more than $20 billion in ad auction overcharges.

Not all names fell. Apple rallied, with Jim Cramer calling investors who sold shares of the tech giant hysterical. Moderna climbed, Novartis surged, GoPro gained sharply, Howmet Aerospace rallied, and Arcturus Therapeutics surged. Humana held steady after reaffirming its FY26 adjusted EPS guidance of at least $9.00 ahead of investor meetings. Bitcoin swung between $77,283 and just above $78,000, reflecting heightened intraday volatility following a 25% gain in August that left its market capitalization at roughly $1.57 trillion. Dell and Palo Alto Networks were due to report earnings after the close.