US pre-open: Wall Street set for softer start as Treasury yields rise

18th Aug 2026 11:21

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were mostly lower ahead of the opening bell on Tuesday as rising Treasury yields and persistent inflation worries weighed on sentiment, while elevated oil prices and a pullback in semiconductor names added further pressure.

As of 1235 BST, Dow Jones futures were up just 0.01%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.45% and 1.16% softer, respectively.

The Dow closed 272.63 points lower on Monday despite gains in the AI and chip sectors, as oil prices and bond yields rose on the back of ongoing geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East.

As for Tuesday, Treasury yields were in focus again prior to the open, with the 30‑year Treasury yield climbing nearly two basis points to 5.329%, hovering around levels last seen almost two decades ago after touching its highest point since June 2007 on Monday, and the benchmark 10-year note up more than two basis points at 4.747%.

Yields have been grinding higher as investors fret that oil prices could remain elevated amid stalled US-Iran negotiations, with Donald Trump saying on Monday that he would attack Oman "if it gets in the way", adding to ongoing geopolitical tensions. West Texas Intermediate futures were up 0.47% at $84.90 a barrel early on Tuesday.

In the corporate space, Home Depot posted second‑quarter earnings that came in ahead of analysts' expectations, but kept its full‑year guidance unchanged, while the likes of Western Digital, Sandisk, Marvell and Seagate all traded more than 5% lower in pre-market action, weighing on the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

Still to come, La-Z Boy and Toll Brothers were both slated to report earnings after the close.

On the macro front, July building permits and housing starts data will be published at 1330 BST, as will July's import and export price indexes, while July industrial production and capacity utilisation figures were slated for release at 1415 BST, and July pending home sales numbers will follow at 1500 BST.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com