Markets
Caterpillar, Deere, AGCO and CNH Slid as Washington Opened a Farm-Equipment Inquiry
The FTC and the USDA asked farmers and repair shops to report how equipment makers and dealers compete. CNH and AGCO fell about 6%, Deere 3.8% and Caterpillar 5.75%, while the 30-year Treasury yield touched its highest level since 2002.
On Wednesday, October 7, the Federal Trade Commission and the US Department of Agriculture published a joint request for information on how agricultural equipment is made, sold and repaired. The agencies said the USDA had received a growing number of complaints from farmers, and they asked farmers, independent repair shops and current or former employees of equipment companies to describe any practices that may restrict competition. Comments are open until December 7, 2026. A request for information is not a lawsuit or a ruling, but it is often the first step in a longer investigation, and it arrives after the FTC's earlier repair case against Deere ended in a settlement.
The stocks most exposed to farm machinery reacted immediately. CNH Industrial fell 6.10% to $12.46, its worst day since April 15. AGCO dropped 6.06% to $109.15, its worst since July 30, after trading as low as $106.43. Deere lost 3.80% to $656.87, its worst day since July 29. Caterpillar, which sells mostly construction and mining equipment rather than tractors, fell even harder: 5.75% to $813.83, after touching $806.29. That wiped out its entire rally from October 1, when it closed at $826.35.
Regulation wasn't the only pressure. Early in the session, the 30-year Treasury yield traded as high as about 5.73%, a level last seen in 2002, before easing to around 5.66% by the close; the 10-year finished at 5.28%. Heavy equipment is expensive and is usually bought on credit — Caterpillar and Deere both run large financing arms for exactly that reason — so higher long-term rates can delay purchases. The broader industrial sector felt it: the Industrial Select Sector SPDR (XLI) fell 2.18%, its worst day since July 29, with Parker-Hannifin (−3.26%), GE Vernova (−3.12%) and Eaton (−3.09%) also lower. Truck maker PACCAR lost 2.25%.
The S&P 500, by contrast, slipped only 0.22%. That gap is the useful part for anyone watching these names: the selling was concentrated in companies whose sales depend on borrowing costs and capital budgets, and on a day when a regulator signalled interest in how one of their markets works. Neither factor goes away quickly. The comment period runs for two months, and long-term yields are still near their highest levels in more than two decades.