Washington (United States) (AFP) – The New York Stock Exchange ended lower on Monday, strained by the rise in bond rates and oil prices with the resumption of exchanges of strikes between the United States and Iran.

Published on: 08/31/2026 - 22:45

The Dow Jones lost 0.70%, the broader S&P 500 index lost 0.33% while the Nasdaq (-0.12%) limited its losses thanks to the advance of Nvidia (+1.36%).

However, the month was positive for the main American stock indices.

“The market is down on this last day of August, as the resurgence of strikes between the United States and Iran pushes up crude oil prices and interest rates, triggering profit-taking,” summarizes Jose Torres of Interactive Brokers.

With this first exchange of strikes since the end of July, Donald Trump warned that there would be "a response". “We are going to hit them very hard,” warned the American president, according to comments transcribed by the Fox News channel.

A little earlier, his Iranian counterpart had estimated that the continuation of the war was "neither in the interest (of Tehran) nor in that of the region", saying he would continue to "work to reach an agreement".

With this rise in tension, the barrel of Brent, the international benchmark for oil, has risen above $90 again.

Oil giants like Chevron (+2.11%), ExxonMobil (+2.72%) or ConocoPhillips (+1.65%) took advantage of this context.

And bond yields, considered indicators of inflationary pressures, have resumed their course forward.

Around 8:25 p.m. GMT, the ten-year yield on American government bonds was at around 4.76%, the highest since January 2025.

Investors are preparing for a wave of US employment data, culminating in the official labor market report on Friday.

“Wall Street needs weak statistics,” believes Mr. Torres because this will help to attenuate expectations of rate hikes from the American central bank (Fed).

Kevin Warsh, the head of the institution, said Friday that his priority was to fight inflation, a message interpreted by the markets as paving the way for monetary tightening in the short term. But the vision of a labor market in bad shape, after the surprise weakness of July, would temper these expectations.

Higher rates help prevent prices from overheating by penalizing the economy. Wall Street therefore prefers a more accommodating environment.

On the business side, several energy suppliers have been in free fall. According to American media, California lawmakers have rejected a bill that would have limited the amount of compensation requested from energy suppliers whose equipment caused major fires in the state.

PG&E tumbled 20.06%, Edison fell 23.07% and Sempra fell 3.10%.

Broker Aon dropped 9.53% to $321.52 after announcing the acquisition of its competitor USI Insurance Services for around $17 billion. The latter was until now in the hands of the KKR fund.

© 2026 AFP

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