US stock futures rise as bond yields hold steady, with debt ceiling crunch niggling at investors

• US stock futures rose Thursday after a choppy Wednesday session saw tech stocks slip.
• Investors remained on edge about the US debt ceiling, which could lead to the country defaulting.
• Bond yields and the dollar steadied, while oil prices inched higher.
• See more stories on Insider’s business page.

US futures rose on Thursday after tech stocks slipped again the previous day, as investors remained nervous about whether lawmakers would vote to suspend the debt ceiling to avoid the US’s first-ever default.

S&P 500 futures were up 0.81%, after the index advanced 0.16% on Wednesday, while Dow Jones futures were 0.78% higher.

Futures for the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 rose 0.87%, after the index dipped 0.12% on Wednesday, with the recent rise in bond yields making low-dividend technology stocks less attractive.

In Asia overnight, China’s CSI 300 moved 0.67% higher, while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.31%. Europe’s continent-wide Stoxx 600 gained 0.7% in early trading Thursday. London’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.48% after official data showed the UK economy grew more than expected in the second quarter.

It’s been a rocky week for stocks, which suffered their biggest fall since May on Tuesday, as investors reacted to the likelihood that central banks would cut back on support for the economy sooner than expected in response to strong inflation.

A handful of other factors have also worried markets: the looming collapse of Evergrande, China’s second-biggest property developer; a global energy crunch that has sent natural gas prices soaring; and the political wrangling over the US debt ceiling, which could lead to the country defaulting.

Strong inflation and the likelihood of central banks tightening policy have sent bond prices tumbling and bond yields sharply higher.

The yield on the key 10-year US Treasury note was little changed Thursday at 1.529%, but was up from 1.3% a month earlier. It hit an intraday high of 1.567% on Tuesday, its highest since the end of June. The dollar index has risen more than 2.3% in the last month, but was down slightly to 94.25 on Thursday.

Investors in the US market remained on edge about the US debt ceiling, which lawmakers have to lift to be able to continue to fund the government. The House on Wednesday passed a bill to suspend the borrowing limit, but Republicans are expected to block the Democrats’ efforts to raise the ceiling when it goes to the Senate.

JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon told Reuters this week that his bank is preparing for the possibility of the US defaulting on its debt – a scenario he described as “potentially catastrophic.”

Elsewhere in markets, oil prices edged higher after rising strongly on Tuesday and slipping back on Wednesday. Brent crude traded at around $78.36 a barrel, while WTI crude traded at $75.14 a barrel.