Two major US stock indexes walked into Monday morning and went in completely opposite directions. The Nasdaq Composite hit a fresh intraday record on September 22, climbing above 27,190.21 to trade between 27,211 and 27,231 in early action. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed roughly 270 points, weighed down by weakness in financials and traditional blue-chip names.
The stock market is entering an era that will be shaped by the rise of AI agents.
Meta’s Muse, a personal AI agent that has risen to dominate the App Store and surpasses ChatGPT as the most-downloaded free app, sparked a major rally in stocks on Monday as investors grappled with the implications of an agentic boom.
» Read more about: These are the stock market's winners and losers in the AI agent economy »
The Federal Reserve dropped $10.4 billion in non-competitive bids during a US Treasury auction for 2-year notes, part of a $69 billion total offering. The operation, which took place on September 22, is routine by design but worth watching for what it reveals about how the central bank is managing its massive balance sheet in the post-runoff era.
» Read more about: Federal Reserve places $10.4B non-competitive bid for 2-year Treasury notes »
Wall Street has targets for Google, NVIDIA, and Salesforce, but one analyst thinks those numbers still leave serious money on the table heading into 2027. Here is the math behind three bold calls that could reshape how you size your…
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» Read more about: 3 Big Tech Stocks With the Most Upside Right Now »
Hello. This is G.A.
The US stock market this week saw major indices perform solidly, buoyed by a decline in oil prices. In particular, the Nasdaq has been generating excitement by hitting a record high on a closing basis, but a closer look at the details reveals a landscape where the fortunes of individual stocks are clearly diverging.
‘Are interest rates still going to rise now?’
Recently, I have been asked this more and more.
The reason is clear: on September 18, the Bank of Japan decided at its Monetary Policy Meeting to raise the policy interest rate by 0.25% to 1.25%.
It was covered extensively in the news,
The Federal Reserve just did something it hasn’t done in over three years: raise interest rates. The FOMC voted unanimously on September 16 to lift the federal funds rate by 25 basis points, pushing the target range to 3.75%-4.00%. It’s the clearest signal yet that the central bank views sticky inflation as a bigger threat than any cooling in the job market.
» Read more about: Federal Reserve hikes rates as inflation risks outweigh employment concerns »
The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.3% and set a fresh intraday record while the Dow fell 0.6%.
Financial stocks removed about 286 points from the Dow, led by JPMorgan Chase’s 3.5% drop on little news.
Trump and Xi Jinping will meet on Thursday to discuss AI,
» Read more about: The Nasdaq Set a Record and the Dow Lost 270 Points on the Same Morning »
Five years is a long time to miss a target. Thomas Barkin, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, made that point bluntly on May 21, 2026, noting that inflation has sat above the Fed’s 2% goal for more than half a decade.
Barkin’s concern is less about any single month’s data and more about what persistent overshoot does to expectations.
» Read more about: Federal Reserve’s Barkin warns of persistent inflation risks »
