Tonight's Highlights: Trump Rebuffs Iranian Ceasefire Terms; U.S. Equity Futures Slip as Nvidia Gains Nearly 2% Premarket

U.S. equity index futures retreated on Monday as rising crude benchmarks and climbing Treasury yields combined to pressure broader market sentiment. European equities traded predominantly higher.

 

Brent crude futures advanced roughly 2% to trade near $99 per barrel after President Donald Trump rejected ceasefire terms proposed by Iran.

 

Treasury yields extended last week’s sharp selloff. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield advanced above 5.2%, while the 30-year bond yield crossed 5.5%—both hovering near multi-year highs.

 

Wall Street logged solid gains last week, spearheaded by strong performance across large-cap tech and semiconductor equities. Meta Platforms surged nearly 13% on the week following a constructive reception to its Muse AI agent rollout. Microsoft gained more than 4%, while Apple and Nvidia each added over 1%.

 

However, Treasury yields rapidly escalated to levels not seen in years over the same period as stubborn inflation prompted traders to ramp up wagers on additional Federal Reserve monetary tightening. The 10-year yield touched its highest level since 2007, the 30-year yield printed highs not seen since 2004, and the policy-sensitive 2-year yield rose by approximately 17 basis points last week.

 

"The rapid rise in global 2-year government bond yields indicates that major central banks will need to hike policy rates further to counter the inflationary consequences of the recent flare-up in the Middle East war and structurally higher oil prices," Ed Yardeni, President of Yardeni Research, wrote in a strategy note.

 

"Unfortunately, higher interest rates will also further worsen the fiscal deficit trajectories of sovereign governments worldwide," Yardeni added.

 

In premarket trading, Nvidia shares rose nearly 2% after the company unveiled an additional $150 billion share repurchase authorization.

Company News

Nvidia Expands Buyback Program by $150 Billion; Remaining Authorization Reaches $235 Billion

 

Nvidia announced on September 28 that its Board of Directors approved a $150 billion increase to its ongoing share repurchase program, lifting total remaining authorized capital to $235 billion. The chipmaker anticipates deploying the remaining capital through the end of fiscal 2028, noting that the $150 billion expansion marks the largest single buyback authorization increase in corporate history.

 

Nvidia Unveils Open Agentic Security Platform with Real-Time Anomaly Quarantine

 

Nvidia introduced an Open Agentic Security Platform on September 28, engineered to provide continuous observability, dynamic policy enforcement, and runtime security across three architectural tiers: application, runtime, and infrastructure.

 

Under this framework, the open-source OpenShell environment isolates AI agents within sandboxed containers, translating user inputs into verifiable security policies that restrict access to system files, networks, tools, processes, and credentials.

 

Concurrently, Nvidia Sentry extends monitoring and hardware enforcement into BlueField data processing units (DPUs), using Nvidia DOCA to correlate agent interactions, policy decisions, and tool usage to isolate and intervene in aberrant behavior in real time. Nvidia emphasized that runtime drift caused by tool latency, execution errors, or prompt ambiguity necessitates out-of-band security independent of the agent itself.

 

The platform is optimized for Nvidia Vera CPUs and BlueField DPUs while maintaining cross-hardware compatibility.

 

Nvidia: Anthropic Contracts Over $180 Billion in Cloud Infrastructure Commitments

 

Nvidia disclosed that Anthropic has contracted for 2.6 gigawatts (GW) of AI infrastructure to date, with hardware deliveries slated to run continuously through 2028.

 

Total cumulative contract value across hyperscalers and neocloud providers has now surpassed $180 billion.

 

Nvidia also noted that its neocloud partners in Australia are positioned to deliver up to 2 GW of compute capacity by 2027. Nvidia's strategic venture portfolio currently spans 13 publicly traded firms and 229 privately held startups.

 

TSMC 2nm Monthly Capacity May Hit 120,000 Wafers by Year-End on Surging Client Demand

 

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is accelerating the expansion of its 2nm fabrication capacity as major clients—including Apple, Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm, and MediaTek—boost wafer orders by 10% to 20%, according to industry sources.

 

TSMC’s 2nm monthly wafer output could reach 120,000 wafers by year-end, surpassing earlier street projections of 90,000 to 100,000 wafers and effectively pulling forward target run-rates originally slated for 2027.

 

Snowflake Plans $3.5 Billion Zero-Coupon Convertible Senior Notes Offering

 

Snowflake announced on September 28 an intended private placement of $3.5 billion in zero-coupon convertible senior notes, split into $1.3 billion due in 2029 and $2.2 billion due in 2031.

 

Net proceeds will fund capped call transactions, finance cash repurchases of select convertible notes maturing in 2027, and support general corporate purposes, including share repurchases, bolt-on acquisitions, and strategic investments.

 

TotalEnergies Affirms 4% Annual Production Growth Through 2030, Targets Higher Dividends and Buybacks

 

TotalEnergies delivered its strategy update on September 28, confirming a 4% compound annual energy production growth target through 2030.

 

Oil and gas production is projected to grow over 3% annually, while electricity generation is modeled to expand at more than 20% per year to reach 100 to 120 TWh by 2030.

 

The energy major expects free cash flow to increase by roughly $10 billion between 2025 and 2030, while holding annual net investment between $14 billion and $17 billion from 2027 to 2032. The board committed to annual dividend increases exceeding 5% through 2030 and pledged to return at least 40% of cash flow to shareholders.

 

TotalEnergies projects its gearing ratio will stay below 10% through year-end 2026, authorizing $2.5 billion in share buybacks for Q4 2026 and $2.0 billion to $2.5 billion for Q1 2027.

 

Samsung Electro-Mechanics Injects 4.27 Trillion Won into Packaging Substrate Capacity

 

Samsung Electro-Mechanics announced a 4.27 trillion won capital investment on September 28 to build out advanced packaging substrate lines at its Sejong complex.

 

The multi-year capital commitment runs from September 28, 2026 through May 31, 2028, representing 43.6% of the company’s consolidated equity at the end of fiscal 2025. The component maker noted that total outlays and deployment schedules may adjust depending on ongoing project milestones.