U.S. stock futures drift higher as yields pause, oil prices slide

Investing.com-- U.S. stock index futures rose slightly on Tuesday evening as Treasury yields came off recent peaks, while oil prices fell sharply on some signs of improving supplies.

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S&P 500 Futures rose 0.17% to 7,745.50 points by 19:34 ET (23:34 GMT). Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.25% to 30,690.50 points, while Dow Jones Futures rose 0.18% to 51,794.0 points.

Futures rose after a mildly negative session on Wall Street, which ended well above intraday lows as Treasury yields paused their advance, and oil prices fell sharply.

The artificial intelligence trade was also seen regaining some ground after reports showed Anthropic preparing for a massive initial public offering.

Chipmakers recovered from initial weakness, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index adding 1.3%. Tech stocks were a major weight on Wall St in recent weeks, after several AI frontier labs called for a slowdown in development due to safety concerns.

Soft job openings and consumer confidence data also helped temper a rally in yields, as did mildly dovish commentary from New York Fed President John Williams.

Williams said the Fed did not need to rush its next move after raising rates by 25 basis points earlier in September. The 10-year Treasury yield came off a 17-year high following Williams' comments.

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Focus this week is on a host of key economic prints for more cues on the Fed and interest rates.

PCE price index data for August is due on Wednesday. The print is the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, and is expected to show inflation remaining well above the central bank's 2% annual inflation target.

Nonfarm payrolls data for September is due this Friday.

Inflation and employment are the Fed's two main considerations for adjusting interest rates. The central bank raised rates by 25 basis points this month, and presented a hawkish outlook in the face of sticky inflation.

Oil prices slid over 2% on Tuesday as supplies in the Middle East, specifically from Saudi Arabia, were seen improving after recent war-driven disruptions.

Separately, the U.S. outlined plans to release up to 40 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, completing a 172 million release announced earlier this year to help improve supplies.

Softer crude helped ease some concerns over energy-fueled inflation and its impact on interest rates.

But crude still retained a bulk of its recent gains, with Brent remaining well above $100 a barrel.

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