Stress evolution was studied during growth of Cu/Pd multilayers using an in-situ, laserbased wafer curvature technique which allowed measurement of stress changes associated with sub-monolayer thickness increases. The apparent stress in the Cu layers changes during growth, from compressive, for thickness less than about 0.5 nm, to tensile for thicknesses above this. The stress behavior in the Pd layers depends on the thickness of the underlying Cu layer. Pd deposited on thick (2 nm) Cu layers is under an apparent compressive stress, while Pd deposited on thin (< 1 nm) Cu layers is initially under a tensile stress but changes to a compressive stress at about 0.5 nm. The overall compressive stress maxima observed in multilayers at a bilayer period of 2 nm is explained by this in-situ behavior. The stress behavior in this system is consistent with either island growth of Cu, or thickness dependent alloying behavior, or both.