Dow futures at a three-month low as yields rise; Micron earnings and Alphabet’s Gemini 4 support AI stocks

Dow Jones futures fell 267 points, or 0.52 per cent, on Thursday morning, 1 October 2026, touching a three-month low, while the continued sell-off of U.S. bonds pushed yields to their highest levels since 2002, as Reuters reports. S&P 500 futures remained almost unchanged, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 88 points, or 0.29 per cent, thanks to support from artificial intelligence stocks.

The 10-year bond yield reached 5.32 per cent and the 30-year 5.66 per cent — the highest peaks in more than two decades, a day after the worst quarter for bonds since 1994, according to the Wall Street Journal. The U.S. Treasury is increasing long-term bond purchases, known as buybacks, in an attempt to curb the sell-off, but so far without much effect on the market.

Support for the market came from Micron, which on Wednesday evening reported a quarterly revenue forecast above market expectations and announced supply commitments worth $32 billion — its shares jumped in after-hours trading. Meanwhile Alphabet rose 2.3 per cent in pre-market trading after announcing its flagship artificial intelligence model Gemini 4, reviving the wave of AI stocks.

Nevertheless tensions remain: the VIX volatility index climbed to a two-week high, at 16.84, while the Nasdaq fell 1 per cent on Wednesday — the biggest fall since 16 September — and Brent oil fell below $100 a barrel. Investors expect the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates higher for longer, following the signals given by Jerome Powell in Jackson Hole on 28 August.