Finance

Heavyweight semiconductor designers Nvidia and AMD propelled the technology sector higher by touching fresh all-time highs of their own. While the artificial intelligence boom continues to serve as a significant tailwind for the broader benchmarks, analysts noted that overall market breadth has considerably narrowed, leaving the major cap-weighted indices highly reliant on a select group of mega-cap firms.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield pulled back slightly to trade around 5.26% following a period of aggressive increases that pushed borrowing costs to multi-decade peaks. This slight easing of bond yields provided necessary relief to equities, balancing broader macroeconomic fears ahead of upcoming Federal Reserve minutes and scheduled central bank speaker commentary.

New data from the Commerce Department revealed that the U.S. trade deficit expanded significantly to reach $105.6 billion in August. This represents the widest gap recorded since early 2025 and surpassed the consensus forecasts of $102 billion previously projected by Wall Street economists.