Morning Preview: September 16, 2026

Early Look

Wednesday, September 16, 2026

U.S. stock futures are looking at a higher open, bouncing after major averages fell on Tuesday for the sixth time in the last seven trading days amid surging Treasury yields (10-yr above 5%) and oil prices, while Wall Street braces for a potential interest rate hike later today at the FOMC policy meeting and fears of signals for potential rate hikes ahead. The FOMC is widely expected to lift its benchmark rate to 3.75%-4.00% from 3.50%-3.75% at its September meeting as strong August jobs data and hotter-than-expected core CPI have supported expectations for a hike. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index jumped 438 points to 63,923, the Shanghai Index rose 27 points to 3,891, and the Hang Seng Index advanced 46 points to 24,713. In Europe, the German DAX is up 40 points to 25,442, while the FTSE 100 rises 53 points to 10,711. In stock news, real quiet thus far outside of a Reuters report saying that Intel and SK Hynix are in talks about a deal that would see it manufacture memory chips on U.S. soil for the first time – though SK Hynix has come out saying no plans confirmed on reported talks with Intel. Very quiet thus far as all eyes on the Fed, thought the Bank of England and Bank of Japan are also holding policy meetings the next two days respectively.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -321.91 points, or 0.61%, to 52,099.29
• The Nasdaq Composite dropped -204.84 points, or 0.78%, to 25,981.57
• The Russell 2000 Index declined -21.93 points, or 0.76% to 2,870.31

• 8:30 AM ET                  Import Prices M/M for August…est.+0.4% (prior -0.4%)
• 8:30 AM ET                  Export Prices M/M for August…est. +0.5% (prior -1.3%)
• 8:30 AM ET                  Retail Sales M/M for August…est. +0.8% (prior -0.6%)
• 8:30 AM ET                  Retail Sales M/M Ex: Autos for Aug…est. +0.5% (prior -0.3%)
• 10:00 AM ET                Business inventories for July…est. +0.3%
• 10:00 AM ET NAHB Housing Market Index for September…est. 34
• 10:30 AM ET                Weekly EIA Inventory Data
• 2:00 PM ET FOMC Policy rate meeting (two day meeting concludes)
• 4:00 PM ET                   Net Long-term TIC flows for July

• Earnings After the Close: ALMU LEN

• H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC 28th Annual Global Investment Conference, 9/14-9/16, in New York
• Morgan Stanley 24th Annual Global Healthcare Conference, 9/14-9/16 in New York, NY
• Stifel Immunology and Inflammation Forum, 9/15-9/16 (virtual)
• Wells Fargo PP Texas Power & Gas Tour, 9/16-9/17, in Houston, TX

• J.B. Hunt (JBHT) issued a negative Q3 upside on higher costs at a conference last night as said they see Q2 to Q3 earnings to drop 5%-10% amid higher costs.
• Planet Labs (PL) Germany, a leading provider of daily data and insights about change on Earth, today announced that it has been awarded a Satellite Services tender by the German Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI).
• TechnipFMC (FTI) announced that its subsidiary, FMC Wellhead Equipment, has been awarded a significant integrated Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Installation, iEPCI, contract by PETRONAS; For TechnipFMC, a “significant” contract is between $75M-$250M.
• Xylem Inc (XYL) files for three part Senior notes offering of $1.50B.
• The Trump administration is said to have appealed a federal court ruling blocking the EPA from sending California’s vehicle-emissions rules to Congress for potential repeal. Judge Beryl Howell ruled Sept. 2 that the EPA improperly sent four waivers for congressional review under the Congressional Review Act. The dispute involves stricter emissions standards for cars, trucks, and garden equipment.

• Bernstein says the Clarity Act’s failure shifts crypto regulation toward SEC and CFTC rulemaking. The firm expects agency action on tokenization, perp futures, and prediction markets, while platforms like Coinbase can continue offering rewards on idle stablecoin balances.
• Circle Internet Group (CRCL) announced the public mainnet launch of Arc, an open Layer 1 blockchain purpose-built for financial markets, real-time money movement, and agentic economic activity.
• Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) said it sees 2026 net interest income growth of about 35%, down from its prior forecast of 39%-43%, while increasing its expected share repurchases to $1.3B-$1.4B; also lowered its FY26 implied rev growth outlook to about 34% from its previous estimate of around 37%.
• Michael J. Burry will be joining as a senior adviser at Minerva Investment Management to help launch a short-biased fund. Burry will be working with Lakshmi Ganapathi, founder and CEO of Unicus, which is a part of Minerva, he said in a post on X.com late on Tuesday. The move was first announced on the social media platform a week ago by Unicus.

• Medtronic (MDT) announced the FDA has cleared the LigaSure RAS Maryland jaw device for use with the Hugo robotic-assisted surgery, or RAS, system
• Rocket Pharmaceuticals (RCKT) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Needham with a $9 price target after the FDA reaffirmed the pivotal study design for RP-A501 in Danon Disease, except for a recalibrated dose and prophylaxis.

• Amazon Web Services (AMZN) said it cannot restore access to resources and data hosted exclusively in its Bahrain region after Iranian drone strikes damaged infrastructure. AWS said the damage affected multiple Availability Zones and exceeded what its regional and multi-AZ services were designed to withstand. One data-hosting zone in the United Arab Emirates also remains affected.
• Meta (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg argued that AI laboratories should independently manage development risks, while emphasizing safety, evaluation, and alignment. The discussion follows calls from some industry leaders for greater coordination.
• Microsoft (MSFT) raises quarterly dividend 8% to $0.98 from $0.91.
• OpenAI has held early discussions with large investors about a new capital raise that could value the company at about $1.2T before an IPO, the Financial Times reported. The talks were initiated by investors and could provide funds for acquisitions while giving the company flexibility to delay its IPO by one or two quarters.