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US Equity Indexes Rise as Treasury Yields Ease on Buyback Ramp

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US equity indexes rose on Wednesday after the Treasury said it would at least double the size of buybacks of long-dated government debt, driving long-term Treasury yields sharply lower from multi-year highs.

The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.5% to 26,438.7, and the S&P 500 gained 0.5% to 7,735. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.3% to 53,536.9. Health and materials sectors led the gainers, while the industrials and utilities sectors led the decliners.

The yield on 30-year Treasuries fell 7.9 basis points to 5.21%, while the 10-year yield fell 4.6 basis points to 4.66%.

Gold futures gained 3.1% to $4,556.60 per ounce, and silver futures rose 3.2% to $66.06.

In economic news, US crude oil stocks, including the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by 900,000 barrels in the week ended Aug. 14, following an increase of 11.3 million barrels in the week earlier.

Excluding SPR inventories, commercial crude oil stocks rose by 4.4 million barrels compared with a 17.4-million-barrel gain in the week prior, and above the 200,000-barrel increase expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

The US West Texas Intermediate crude oil contract rose 2.1% to $86.74 per barrel.

US Mortgage applications fell by 0.4% in the week ended Aug. 14, with an increase in refinancing activity offset by a decline in home purchase applications, according to Mortgage Bankers Association data released Wednesday.

In company news, Moderna (MRNA) shares climbed 128%, and Merck (MRK) shares gained nearly 11% after the companies said a trial of intismeran autogene in combination with Keytruda met the primary endpoint of recurrence-free survival and a key secondary endpoint of distant metastasis-free survival in patients with completely resected stage IIB-IV melanoma.

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US equity indexes ended lower Tuesday after crude oil prices rose and the 30-year government bond yield hit a 19-year high following President Donald Trump's declaration that the US is not negotiating any deal with Iran.* "There are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, with the Islamic Republic of Iran," Trump posted on his social media platform and claimed that the Strait of Hormuz is "New U.S. Territory."* The Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the US meets the conditions of an interim deal signed with Iran in June, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing Iran's negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf in state media.* US housing starts dropped 12% sequentially to a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.24 million units last month, the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development said. The analyst consensus stood at 1.35 million in a Bloomberg-compiled survey.* Pending home sales fell 2.3% in July, compared with a 4.8% drop in June, according to the National Association of Realtors. Analysts expected no change in a Bloomberg-compiled survey.* September West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose $0.49 to settle at $84.99 per barrel, while October Brent crude, the global benchmark, was last seen up $0.10 at $90.97.* Targa Resources (TRGP) shares were up about 7.4%, the top performer on the S&P 500, a day after the company secured 20-year, fee-based agreements with ExxonMobil (XOM).* Nvidia (NVDA) talent is being recruited by Etched, with about 15% of the AI startup's 400 employees having previously worked at Nvidia, The Wall Street Journal reported. Nvidia shares were down 2.3%, the second-worst performer on the Dow.

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Update: US Equity Indexes Fall as 30-Year Yield Hits 19-Year High, Crude Oil Advances

(Updates with index/price moves and geopolitical news from the first paragraph.)US equity indexes declined, with chipmakers helping drive technology to the bottom of sector charts, after the 30-year government bond yield touched levels last seen around the 2007 global financial crisis and crude oil prices extended gains.The Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.3% to 26,304.5, and the S&P 500 declined 0.6% to 7,698.6 ahead of Tuesday's close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1% to 53,402.9. Technology and industrials led decliners.Most US Treasury yields retreated after midday. The 30-year yield fell 2.5 basis points to 5.29% after touching 5.34% intraday, the highest since 2007.The increase in the 30-year yield to a 19-year high comes amid concerns that an imminent escalation in the Middle East sent Brent crude prices above $90 a barrel and will fan fears of inflation, according to a D.A. Davidson research note Tuesday.The front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil contract rose 0.6% to $85.01 per barrel, and global benchmark North Sea Brent edged up 0.1% to $91.00 per barrel a day after the deadline to reach a permanent peace deal with Iran expired."There are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, with the Islamic Republic of Iran," President Trump posted on his social media platform.The Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the US meets the conditions of an interim deal signed with Iran in June, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing Iran's negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf in state media.On the same day, Trump posted an image that showed the Strait of Hormuz as "New U.S. Territory." More than 80% of vessel transits through the Strait of Hormuz over the past two weeks have taken the Omani route - a UN-authorized shipping channel that Iran vehemently opposes - according to Kpler, which tracks ships using transponders and satellite data, CNN reported.

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Update: US Equity Indexes Fall as 30-Year Yield Remains Elevated, Crude Oil Jumps

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