Good afternoon and welcome to Markets Desk.
Equities are under pressure today as crude oil prices push higher, stoking fresh inflation concerns across the board. The S&P five hundred is off roughly a third of a percent, with the Nasdaq taking the steeper hit, down more than half a percent. The market is reading rising energy costs as a direct threat to the Fed's path forward, and that uncertainty is keeping buyers on the sidelines.
The bond market is amplifying those concerns. Treasury yields are climbing, and investors are watching closely for signs of whether demand holds at current levels. Higher yields mean a higher cost of capital across the economy, squeezing everything from corporate borrowing to mortgage rates, and right now the market is treating that as a genuine headwind rather than background noise.
On the policy front, Vice President JD Vance announced the Trump administration intends to suspend Microsoft from the permanent residency program tied to H-one-B visa holders. Vance called the program, in his words, rife with fraud, and accused Microsoft of displacing American workers with foreign-born talent. The move signals a sharper enforcement posture on skilled worker immigration, with potential ripple effects for the broader tech sector's hiring pipeline.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
