Update: Equity Markets Rise Intraday as Yields Fall

01:36 PM EDT, 10/06/2026 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with latest market prices and developments.) US benchmark equity indexes were higher intraday and Treasury yields declined as markets awaited the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes due Wednesday. The S&P 500 was up 0.7% at 7,831.2 after midday Tuesday. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.6% to 27,648.6, having hit a closing record on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average grew 0.6% to 51,551.4. All sectors, except healthcare, were in the green, led by utilities. Shares of retail giants Walmart (WMT) and Home Depot (HD) were among the top gainers on the Dow, both up 1.7%. Amazon (AMZN) shares were also advancing. The 10-year US Treasury yield was down 3.2 basis points at 5.28%, while the two-year rate fell 3.3 basis points to 4.80%. The Federal Reserve will publish the minutes from its September meeting on Wednesday, offering insights into the monetary policy trajectory. Policymakers approved a 25-basis-point rate increase at the meeting, marking the first rate hike in just over three years aimed at bringing elevated inflation back to the 2% target. Markets are currently pricing in an 81% probability that the Fed will keep its benchmark rate steady this month, according to the CME FedWatch tool. In economic news, the US trade deficit widened in August as a surge in imports outweighed a modest gain in exports, government data showed Tuesday. "The trade deficit widened to its largest level in August since (the first quarter of 2025), in part due to an AI-induced surge in capital goods imports," Grace Zwemmer, US economist at Oxford Economics, said in a note. "Although net trade is on track to pose a sizeable drag on (third-quarter gross domestic product), roughly half of the drag will be offset by a 1.4 (percentage point) contribution to GDP growth from booming equipment spending." West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 0.2% at $89.62 a barrel intraday Tuesday, while Brent dropped 0.2% to $100.08. Attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz have intensified this month even as oil shipments through the critical energy chokepoint climb back toward pre-Iran war levels, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday, citing data from UK Maritime Trade Operations. In other company news, Constellation Energy (CEG) shares jumped 14%, the top gainer on the S&P 500. The company agreed to collaborate with Alphabet's (GOOG, GOOGL) Google on 3,590 megawatts of power as part of a long-term energy strategy to meet demand and improve grid reliability. Uber Technologies (UBER) is acquiring US-based catering platform ezCater in a $2.3 billion cash deal to expand its food delivery business to more corporate customers. Uber shares were down 0.7%. Spot gold rose 0.5% to $4,160.79 per troy ounce, while silver increased 0.5% to $61.60 per ounce.