Stocks struggle to shake off Fed rate worries: Stock market news today

Wall Street stocks struggled to advance on Monday, as the Federal Reserve's "higher for longer" interest rate strategy continued to pile on pressure as a US government shutdown loomed.

Futures on the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) futures traded around the flatline, after losing grip of earlier gains as 10-year Treasury yields (^TNX) jumped. Nasdaq 100 futures fell about 0.1%.

Oil prices have resumed their rally, and so the prospect of inflation staying high — and that has fired up debate about whether the Fed will find itself restricted from cutting rates in the near term. Investors are now getting ready for a fresh read on PCE inflation due out Friday for more insight.

With less than a week left to avert a government shutdown, investors are starting to assess its potential impact on the economy, given there's little sign of progress on a budget agreement by lawmakers. A reading on second-quarter GDP is scheduled for Thursday.

Meanwhile, Sunday's tentative deal to end the Hollywood writers' strike has lifted media stocks, with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) shares up 4% in premarket trading. But there's less optimism around the autoworkers' strike, after Ford (F) said despite progress in some areas, there are "significant gaps to close" before it can reach a new labor agreement with the UAW.

Elsewhere, signs of growing debt woes at Chinese property developers — Evergrande, in particular — rattled nerves about the impact on the world's second-biggest economy.

In individual stocks, Amazon has signed a deal to invest up to $4 billion in startup Anthropic, pulling in a crucial partner in its push to become a major player in AI.

Eyes are also on Booking Holdings (BKNG), whose brands include Booking.com and Priceline, after its proposed $1.7 billion buy of ETraveli was blocked by the EU antitrust regulator.

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