While Surging to Records, Stocks Experience Some ‘Wobbles’

On the surface, the stock market told a familiar story in the third quarter. Rising share prices of behemoth tech companies continued to lift the SP 500 to new heights, shrugging off the war with Iran, higher oil prices and upheaval in the government bond market.

But underneath the surface, there were signs that the sharp rise in both oil prices and bond yields had an effect on the market.

A majority of the stocks in the SP 500 — 311 of them — fell in the third quarter. Utilities and real estate, two sectors sensitive to higher borrowing costs brought on by higher bond yields, were among those that slumped. And while the stock prices of many of the big technology companies rose, the rise was less than the increase in their profits, suggesting investors were becoming more cautious about such rapid profit growth continuing.

“We did see a few wobbles,” said Kristina Hooper, chief market strategist at Man Group. “The risk for the rest of the year is that we start to see more vulnerability in tech.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/business/stocks-sp500-oil-bonds.html