Before the bell: futures edge up as the 10-year holds near 5.24%; CarMax jumps 6% on an 81% profit gain

U.S. stock futures were slightly higher early Tuesday after the bond selloff took a breather. December S&P 500 e-mini futures were at 7,758 at 7:06 a.m., up 0.15% from Monday's settlement, Nasdaq-100 futures were up 0.31% at 30,661.50 and Russell 2000 futures up 0.27%, on Yahoo Finance quotes. The S&P 500 fell 0.8% on Monday (our close). CNBC described futures as mixed, with the Dow slightly lower in its early read. Live levels: markets board.

Yields: a pause at the highs

Monday's official Treasury closes were 5.24% for the 10-year, 4.92% for the 2-year and 5.56% for the 30-year, the highest of 2026 for the 2- and 10-year on Treasury data. This morning the 10-year was flat near 5.246% and the 2-year about 1 basis point higher at 4.947%, CNBC reported. Freddie Mac's 30-year mortgage average was 7.03% last Thursday, when the 10-year had not yet made these highs, so Thursday's reading is the one home buyers should watch. Chart: 10-year T-note.

Oil: the number in the futures curve

November WTI was $91.72 a barrel, down 0.9% from Monday's $92.60 settle, on Yahoo quotes. Saudi Arabia has resumed crude loadings at Yanbu on the Red Sea after its East-West pipeline partly restarted, OilPrice.com reported, citing Reuters, and Kpler data put Middle East crude exports at just under 80% of pre-war levels, according to CNBC. U.S. and Iranian officials held separate talks with mediators on Monday.

What the headline price hides is how steep the curve is. November Brent, which expires Wednesday, was $104.45, while December Brent was $96.88 (our calculation from Yahoo quotes): a $7.57 premium for oil delivered one month sooner. That says the squeeze is in barrels available now, not in where traders think prices settle. Brent's premium over WTI was about $12.73, a gap OilPrice tied to talk of a U.S. diesel export ban. Retail diesel is near a record $6.53 a gallon, CNBC reported, which is the figure that matters for anyone running trucks. Chart: crude oil.

On the calendar

The August JOLTS job openings report and September consumer confidence are both due at 10 a.m. ET. JOLTS is forecast at 7.225 million openings against 7.271 million the prior month, on our economic calendar. ADP and final second-quarter GDP follow Wednesday, ISM manufacturing Thursday, and the September jobs report Friday, forecast at 90,000.

Movers

• CarMax: $59.75 premarket, up 5.7%, on Nasdaq quotes. Its earnings release showed revenue up 19.5% to $7.9 billion, retail used units up 13.8% and earnings of $1.16 a share against $0.64 a year ago. It plans to resume buybacks this quarter. The detail behind the growth: the average retail price rose about $1,600, or 6.3%, while gross profit per retail car fell $111 to $2,105, because CarMax cut prices to win volume. Its finance arm financed 22% of Tier 2 volume, up from 10%, which means more lending to buyers below prime credit at a time of 5% Treasury yields.
• Nvidia: $230.48 premarket, up 0.7%, extending Monday's gain after its $150 billion buyback increase.
• Oura: the smart-ring maker postponed its planned Nasdaq IPO, citing market uncertainty, CNBC reported. It had been expected to price this week.
• Crypto: Bitcoin was $83,979 on Coinbase, up 1.1% from its 24-hour open, and Ether $2,715, up 1.8%.

Sources: CNBC, OilPrice.com, CarMax (SEC filing), U.S. Treasury, Freddie Mac, Yahoo Finance, Nasdaq.com premarket quotes, Coinbase Exchange, Chronicle markets board. Curve spreads are our calculations. Premarket prices move quickly and early volume is thin. This is market information, not investment advice.