Wall Street's S&P 500 Closes at a Record; STI Rose 0.7% on Tuesday

Wed 7 Oct 2026 | Morning

The Numbers

On Tuesday the Dow rose 0.49% to 51,521.28, the S&P 500 rose 0.58% to 7,818.93, a record close per Dow Jones Market Data, and the Nasdaq rose 0.45% to 27,599.79. BBN Times and TheStreet attribute the gains to lower oil prices and easing bond yields. The 10-year Treasury yield fell 3.6 basis points to 5.275% and the 2-year fell 4.2 basis points to 4.791%. Brent settled at US$97.41, down 2.90%, per Arbiterz, which cites higher loadings through the Strait of Hormuz. Business Times separately reports Iran stepping up ship attacks there. USD/SGD was 1.2776.

In Singapore, the STI rose 37.21 points (0.7%) to 5,701.54, with 267 gainers against 232 losers and S$1.9 billion traded on 958 million securities. Business Times says DFI Retail Group led the index. DBS was the most active stock by value: 3.9 million shares worth S$303.5 million. SingStat reported August retail sales up 0.7% year on year, against 1.3% in July, and 1.6% excluding motor vehicles.  

My Personal Take

Yesterday I said I would read the bank closes before saying what lifted the index. The answer, per Business Times, was DFI Retail Group. I had been half-expecting a bank, and I should admit that when the index moves, I look at DBS first without really deciding to. It is the biggest name and the one most of us own, so I assume it is the story.

The DBS number I kept coming back to was S$303.5 million over 3.9 million shares, which is about S$77.80 a share. At that price a 10-share lot is about S$778, where a 100-share lot was about S$7,780. For a moment the smaller figure felt like a cheaper stock. It is the same share at the same price, and the yield per dollar is identical whether the ticket is S$778 or S$7,780. I do not yet know whether the lower entry point changes how people trade, or only how they feel about trading. Next January's first quarterly review will show me more than one busy Tuesday. 🦖