Evening Market Recap - Wednesday, 16-Sep

US equities were higher in Thursday trading. Oil was a tailwind (though ended the day off its lows) despite mixed takeaways from the latest Middle East updates. Other areas of focus included positive AI updates, largely upbeat sell-side conference takeaways, and next week's Trump-Xi summit.

US equities were down in Wednesday trading, rebounding a bit from their worst levels after somewhat hawkish remarks from Warsh post-FOMC. The Fed raised rates by 25 bp as widely expected, while dot plot showed one additional rate hike for 2026 and nothing more in 2027. Market still pricing in 25 bp of hikes through year-end.

US equities finished lower in Tuesday trading, ending not far from worst levels. Stocks extended Monday's selloff with biggest focus on another oil rally amid latest cautious Middle East and global supply updates.

US equities finished lower in Monday trading, though ended well off the morning's weakness. A rotation out of the AI infrastructure space was today's big story. There’s also a lot of anticipation ahead of Wednesday’s FOMC meeting.

US equities were lower this week, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq snapping two-week winning streaks. Iran conflict and energy-market spillovers remained a major market headwind, with increased kinetic activity and dwindling diplomatic off-ramps pushing WTI and Brent above $100 and US diesel above $6/gallon. August CPI came in slightly hotter than expected and strengthened the case for a September Fed hike.

US equities were lower in Thursday trading, ending a bit off worst levels. The market was on the defensive against continued strength in crude and a notable jump in Treasury yields. WTI is crude now up for the eighth consecutive session (and up ~20% over that stretch) with a focus on Mideast headlines, particularly regarding Houthi influence over Bab el-Mandeb strait.

US equities were lower in Wednesday trading, extending Tuesday's declines. The defensive tone once again chalked up to continued escalation in kinetic activity in the Middle East (and no diplomatic off-ramps in sight) that pushed oil back to four-month highs. Rates were also a headwind, tabbed in part to oil as well as underwhelming Treasury buyback announcement.

US equities were lower in Tuesday trading as major averages ended near session lows. Defensive tilt chalked up to latest hawkish US/Iran updates following weekend ramp in kinetic activity.

US equities were modestly higher this week, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both up less than 1% but higher for a second straight week (and fifth week in the past six). The Iran war narrative was fairly choppy, as kinetic activity resumed over the weekend, though was fairly limited in scope. August headline payrolls were up +162K m/m, well ahead of +55K consensus.

US equities were higher in Thursday trading, ending near best levels. The move to the upside was tabbed in large part to rate stabilization following Fed Governor Waller's remarks offering support for a September rate hold if data showed continued disinflation progress. September hike probabilities now seen as just above 50% vs odds near 68% on Tuesday.