The Wall Street Wrap: September 18, 2026

Nasdaq notches a weekly gain as Dow slides for a third straight week; Buffett steps down as Berkshire chairman

Welcome to Wall Street Wrap, your quick end-of-day rundown of what moved US markets today, plus what's shaping global sentiment overnight.

MARKETS TODAY

The Dow slid Friday as traders wrapped up a volatile week shaped by rising Treasury yields, elevated oil prices, and the Fed's first rate hike in three years. The Dow shed 95.40 points, or 0.18%, to close at 51,682.64. The S&P 500 rose 0.17% to 7,650.50, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.39% to 26,522.55. The 10-year Treasury yield, which had climbed above 5% to hit its highest level since July 2007 earlier in the week, rose back above that threshold Friday after sliding Thursday, last up almost 6 basis points at 5.006%. With the week's moves, the Dow posted its third straight losing week, down 1.7% for its worst weekly performance since March; the S&P 500 was off about 0.1%; only the Nasdaq posted a weekly gain, up 0.7%.

ANALYTICAL VIEW

Friday's session capped a week defined by the Fed's first rate hike since 2023, and the market's verdict looked more like fatigue than conviction in either direction. Some uncertainty was removed this week now that the Fed has hiked, though the move does not look like a one-and-done: strategists broadly expect at least one more hike this year and possibly two more in 2027, with Treasury yields and oil prices likely to stay elevated for months. That view was echoed elsewhere on the Street, with other strategists arguing that equities and long-term yields moved lower after Wednesday's hike because the decision reinforced the Fed's inflation-fighting credibility, easing market-based inflation expectations rather than unsettling them.

The week's other defining thread was a fresh wave of central-bank tightening. The Bank of Japan raised its policy rate to a 31-year high of 1.25% on Friday, with Governor Kazuo Ueda signaling the BOJ has shifted from pushing inflation toward its 2% target to guarding against an overshoot; the yen weakened regardless, as investors focused on two dissenting policymakers who favored patience. Bitcoin, meanwhile, jumped more than 5% above $80,000 for the first time since September 7, as enthusiasm built around the SEC's new tokenized-stock exemption, lifting crypto-linked equities including Coinbase and Strategy.

What could change the picture: how quickly the Fed's next moves materialize against the BOJ's newly hawkish stance, whether elevated oil and Treasury yields continue to weigh on rate-sensitive sectors into next week, and what emerges from next Thursday's Trump-Xi summit in Washington.

SECTOR PERFORMANCE

WINNERS & LOSERS

Top 5 Gainers (across S&P, Nasdaq, Dow):

• Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR): +16.39%
• Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN): +11.66%
• SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK): +10.99%
• Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD): +9.12%
• Coherent Corp (NYSE:COHR): +7.22%

Top 5 Decliners:

• Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE): -6.32%
• Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM): -5.82%
• Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE:ARE): -5.40%
• Thomson Reuters Corp (NYSE:TRI): -5.12%
• General Motors (NYSE:GM): -5.10%

Note: Bitcoin's jump above $80,000 on the SEC's tokenized-stock news lifted crypto-linked names broadly, with Strategy, Coinbase, and Robinhood all among the day's top gainers; Qualcomm and Nucor led decliners after strong weeks, giving back some of their prior gains.

AFTER-HOURS MOVERS

Gainers:

• Accenture (NYSE:ACN), +8.67% after hours: Shares jumped after the company announced a partnership with Anthropic to build a team of embedded evaluators, with both companies expecting to invest at least $1 billion over five years in AI safety. Accenture will lean on its acquisition of Faculty, a firm with extensive experience testing AI models for leading labs, to support the effort.
• DataMEDS AI (NASDAQ:MEDS), +13.83% after hours: Shares rose after the company settled litigation tied to a 2023 membership purchase agreement, extinguishing roughly $19 million in liabilities and retiring 364,099 common shares for a $450,000 cash payment.
• Evolution Metals & Technologies (NASDAQ:EMAT), +2.07% after hours: Shares were volatile after the rare-earth magnet maker entered a $30.9 million convertible debenture financing agreement with Yorkville Advisors, issuing an initial $22 million debenture convertible at a discount to its recent volume-weighted average price. The dilutive financing structure comes days after shares surged on an analyst buy initiation and ahead of the company's planned Russell 2000/3000 index inclusion on September 21.

COMMODITIES & RATES

US TREASURY YIELDS

TOP STORIES: US

Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.B) chairman. The 96-year-old investor, who has led the conglomerate since 1965, becomes chairman emeritus effective immediately while remaining a board director; his son Howard Buffett succeeds him as chairman per a long-standing succession plan, with Susan Decker continuing as lead independent director. "Father Time always wins," Buffett wrote in a letter to shareholders, adding he is "more confident than ever about what lies ahead" for the company. Berkshire shares are up just 1% in 2026 versus the S&P 500's more than 11% gain, and analysts said the announcement could pressure the stock near-term.

Bitcoin tops $81,000 as SEC's tokenized-stock exemption fuels crypto rally, even as a separate crypto bill's failure caps the move. The cryptocurrency jumped over 6% to above $81,000, its strongest push in weeks, with crypto-linked equities following: Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN) and Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) surged 7.5% to 12%, alongside gains for Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD) and Circle. Analysts noted the failure of the US crypto market-structure bill known as the CLARITY Act, along with the Fed's hawkish stance, is limiting a more decisive breakout above $80,000, with altcoins facing the heaviest pressure.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) and Anthropic partner on a team of embedded evaluators for AI safety. Each company expects to invest at least $1 billion over five years in the effort, which will see evaluators work alongside Anthropic's internal teams to red-team models and test safeguards. Accenture CEO Julie Sweet said embedded evaluation is "an emerging area" the company sees as central to the safety landscape going forward, leaning on its Faculty acquisition's experience testing AI models for other leading labs. Shares jumped in regular trading and extended gains after hours (see After-Hours Movers below).

Nscale files to go public on the NYSE under ticker "NSCL." The AI infrastructure cloud provider reported a $1.02 billion net loss on $140.6 million in revenue for the six months ended June 30, 2026, with revenue up 1,252% year-over-year. The company, which counts Anthropic and OpenAI among its customers and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) among its investors, competes with Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV), and Nebius (NASDAQ:NBIS).

DOJ weighs joining states' lawsuit against BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) and State Street (NYSE:STT). The suit, led by Texas and 12 other Republican state attorneys general, alleges the asset managers used their market power to pressure coal producers into output cuts for climate goals, raising electricity prices. Shares of both companies dipped on the report before partially recovering.

Also today: President Trump said he is banning MS NOW, CNN, and Politico from the White House over their coverage of him, a move that could draw a First Amendment legal challenge; the dollar strengthened as the Fed's hawkish tone continued to reverberate through currency markets; semiconductors extended a month-long rotation higher, with Intel, ARM, and AMD posting weekly gains of 6% to 8.6% as investors rotated out of software and consumer tech; the national average gas price hit $4.46 a gallon and diesel remained near record highs above $6.39, with pump prices lagging this week's crude pullback; JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon and Citigroup (NYSE:C) chief Jane Fraser are set to attend Trump's state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping next week, joining OpenAI's Sam Altman and Nvidia's Jensen Huang; Meritage Hospitality, a major Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN) franchisee, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after six straight quarters of same-store sales declines; and Kylian Mbappé signed an endorsement deal with On after Nike (NYSE:NKE) chose not to renew his contract.

TOP STORIES: GLOBAL

Bank of Japan raises rates to 31-year high in split 7-2 vote. The BOJ lifted its policy rate 25 basis points to 1.25%, with Governor Kazuo Ueda saying "our policy phase has changed" as the bank shifts focus to preventing an inflation overshoot. Two board members dissented, and the yen weakened past 157 per dollar despite the hawkish signal, as traders focused on the split decision rather than Ueda's tone.

Nestle weighs options after Kremlin places its Russian assets under external administration. The move, following a presidential decree from Vladimir Putin, is widely seen as a first step toward transferring the assets to Kremlin-friendly investors. French retailers Auchan and Lemana Pro were also targeted, with all three companies' Russian assets set to transfer to a shell company called L.E.V. Management. Nestle shares fell 2.2%.

Volkswagen shares tumble 7.5% on slashed profit guidance. The German automaker cut its 2026 operating return on sales guidance to as much as 1%, down from a prior 4% to 5.5% range, citing a roughly $6 billion goodwill impairment tied to Porsche, a deteriorating Chinese market, and restructuring costs. Special effects totalling around €10 billion are expected to weigh on full-year operating profit, though adjusted for those items the operating margin would be about 4%.

German producer inflation accelerates to 4.6% in August, exceeding forecasts. Producer prices rose more than expected, driven by an 8.3% annual jump in energy costs as mineral oil product prices surged 40.5% amid the ongoing Middle East conflict. Prices excluding energy still rose 3.1% annually, with metals and basic chemicals also climbing sharply.

Fuel queues and conscription fears unsettle Russian voters ahead of State Duma election. The first parliamentary vote since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine comes amid fuel shortages, rumours of a new mobilization wave, and a Kremlin ban on the opposition-leaning Yabloko party, whose anti-war campaign had drawn a following before being barred from the ballot. A September poll found 43% of respondents said their financial situation had worsened over the past year.

MANAGEMENT & FED SPEAK

Kazuo Ueda, Governor, Bank of Japan, on the inflation outlook:

"If risks of underlying inflation overshooting 2% materialise, that could have a negative impact on Japan's economy... It's important to stabilise underlying inflation at 2%. Our policy phase has changed."

Warren Buffett, Chairman Emeritus, Berkshire Hathaway, on stepping down:

"Father Time always wins. He has, however, been generous with me. He has given me the opportunity to see Berkshire reach a point where I am more confident than ever about what lies ahead."

Greg Abel, CEO, Berkshire Hathaway, on the succession:

"The culture Warren built and the values he championed will remain at the heart of Berkshire, and Howard will be their guardian."

CORPORATE ACTIONS & EARNINGS CALENDAR

Top Ex-Dividend Companies for Monday, September 21:

Economic Calendar (Friday, September 18):

MACRO DATA RECAP

Week of September 14-18 (completed):

Week ahead: September 21-25:

That's the wrap for this week. Attention now turns to next Thursday's Trump-Xi summit in Washington, the Fed's next data points ahead of its October and December meetings, and whether the BOJ's newly hawkish stance holds as global central banks continue diverging.