Morning Preview: September 18, 2026

Early Look

Friday, September 18, 2026

U.S. stock futures are edging higher on this option expiration Friday, looking to build on the prior day gains and on track to post solid weekly gains as Treasury yields pull back off near 20-year highs and oil prices edge lower in a week that was dominated by central bank actions. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 bps on Wednesday and flagged more hikes in the coming months. Kevin Warsh came to the Fed with a roadmap to lower borrowing costs. Less than four months later he has pulled the trigger on the Fed’s first interest rate hike in over three years. Yesterday, the Bank of England held interest rates at 3.75%, exactly as expected. But its decisions relating to its balance sheet and quantitative tightening were a lot more interesting. Finally, overnight, the raised its policy rate 25 bps to 1.25% on Friday, matching all economists surveyed as the move was the fastest pace of tightening in over 30 years. But the hawkish message failed to rally the yen. Instead, the currency weakened as investors seized on dissent from two policymakers who argued the BOJ should remain patient in raising borrowing costs. The Japanese yen weakened to around 158 against the US dollar in reaction. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index surged 882 points to 65,018, the Shanghai Index rose 36 points to 3,911, and the Hang Seng Index climbed 146 points to 24,750. In Europe, the German DAX is down -185 points to 25,530, while the FTSE 100 is down -75 points to 10,740. Gold and silver prices extend weekly gains while oil prices track weekly losses.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 317.95 points, or 0.62%, to 51,779.85
• The Nasdaq Composite gained 439.87 points, or 1.69%, to 26,418.30
• The Russell 2000 Index advanced 15.82 points, or 0.55% to 2,874.64

• 9:15 AM ET                  Capacity Utilization for August…est.76.4%
• 10:00 AM ET                Leading Index M/M for August…est. +0.1%
• 1:00 PM ET                   Baker Hughes Weekly rig count data

• The Japanese Yen fell against the Dollar after the Bank of Japan lifted its policy rate by 25 basis points as expected. Japan’s currency dropped -1.2% to 157.87 per greenback.
• The U.S. could postpone announcing new tariffs on China and other countries until after President Donald Trump meets Chinese President Xi Jinping next week, Bloomberg reported. A previously planned trade report was expected to recommend a 7.5% tariff on Chinese goods, while the final rate could potentially exceed the 20% level agreed during earlier talks.
• Global equity funds recorded their largest weekly outflow in nine months in the week through September 16, as a surge in oil prices heightened inflation concerns and expectations of a Federal Reserve interest-rate increase added to investor caution. Investors withdrew a net $23.21 billion from global equity funds, the biggest weekly outflow since December 17, 2025, LSEG Lipper data showed.

• Nestle (NSRGY) said it is weighing all options after Kremlin moves to seize Russia business; Kremlin decision is latest move against Western firms in Russia; temporary administration often a move towards to State takeover. Nestle has six Russian factories.
• Tyson Foods (TSN) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan saying emerging headwinds in chicken from rising feed costs are well understood and could be partially offset by industry production cuts. Meanwhile, beef earnings could finally be on the upswing.

• Steel Dynamics (STLD) said it expects Q3 earnings of $5.34-$5.38, below the $5.60 consensus but above $3.69 in Q2, as significantly higher steel profitability from metal margin expansion and record shipments is expected to be partly offset by weaker metals recycling results due to lower spreads and shipments.
• Equinor (EQNR) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Bank America citing their forecast for hotter winter gas prices in Europe; raises its Title Transfer Facility, or TTF, a virtual trading point for gas, price forecast to average €95/MWh for the winter.
• Targa Resources (TRGP) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at TD Cowen and raised tgt to $350 from $275 calling it their top midstream pick as the company is well positioned to capture Permian wet gas growth; says 2030 metrics screen favorably versus the group.
• The State Department approved a potential $24.3B sale of 48 Lockheed Martin (LMT) F-35 Lightning II aircraft to Saudi Arabia, along with 49 Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 engines and related equipment. The deal still requires congressional approval.

• Warren Buffett is stepping down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA), the $1 trillion conglomerate he has led for more than six decades.

• Xenon (XENE) announces azetukalner NDA submission to FDA for focal seizures and provides update on psychiatry clinical program; initiates temporary pause of enrollment in ongoing psychiatry studies; said enrollment in X-nova2 study in MDD completed; topline data expected Q1 2027.

• Intapp (INTA) announced a partnership with OpenAI to make Celeste, its expert AI coworker, available as a plug-in for ChatGPT Enterprise. The integration brings law firms’ proprietary client context, methods, matters, and institutional knowledge into ChatGPT Enterprise.
• Macom (MTSI) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital with an unchanged price target of $335 citing valuation for the upgrade with the stock down 36% from the May peak.
• Netflix (NFLX) downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Wells Fargo and cut tgt to $57 from $80 saying the company’s engagement trends look worrying and believes Netflix’s originals content slate is weaker in the second half of 2026 versus prior periods. Its base case is the company’s top 100 originals hours will be down 21% year-over-year.
• Texas Instruments (TXN) raises quarterly dividend 7% to $1.52 from $1.42 per share.