Shesa's Weekend Stock Market Updates - 9|20|26

Welcome to my weekend Updates

Key Takeaway for last week: The Fed delivered its first rate hike in over 3 years and left the door open for more. Markets recovered better than expected on Thursday, but higher rates, sticky oil prices, and September seasonality still call for caution.  

Last week U.S. equities finished mixed in a volatile session. Stocks sold off sharply after the Federal Reserve’s rate decision on Wednesday, then recovered strongly on Thursday as oil prices eased and yields pulled back. Friday was quieter as the 10-year yield moved back slightly below 5%. Overall sentiment remained cautious despite Thursday’s rebound. Technology led the recovery while Energy and Financials lagged. The Nasdaq managed a modest weekly gain, while the Dow and Russell 2000 lagged. Let's take a look at the Indices.

  • S&P 500 declined -0.1% to close at 7,650.50 (YTD: +11.8%)
  • Nasdaq rose +0.7% to close at 26,522.55 (YTD: +14.1%)
  • Dow Jones declined -1.7% to close at 51,682.64 (YTD: +7.5%)
  • Russell 2000 declined -1.5% to close at 2,860.40 (YTD: +15.2%)

Economic Report last week

The Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate by 0.25% to a target range of 3.75%–4.00% in a unanimous 12–0 vote, the first hike since July 2023. Officials noted that inflation remains elevated and signaled that another increase later this year is possible.

August Retail Sales rose a strong +1.2% (well above the +0.8% expectation), showing continued consumer resilience.

Economic Report this week

No major high-impact U.S. data releases are scheduled. Attention will stay on Trump and Jinping meeting, Oil prices, Treasury yields, and any comments from Fed officials.

Other news

  • President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet on this week on September 24. This could be very important.
  • Warren Buffett stepped down as Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (he had already handed the CEO role to Greg Abel earlier this year). He becomes Chairman Emeritus, and his son Howard Buffett takes over as Chairman.
  • Tesla Semi high-volume production continues; the factory event is set for September 24 (timing may be affected by the Trump-Xi meeting).

Stocks to watch

TSLA, NVDA, DELL, MU, SPCX, NBIS, MP, MRNA, UVXY, XLE

Note: These are not recommendations — just a watch list.

Going forward

The Fed’s rate hike and the possibility of further tightening have removed one major uncertainty but introduced a higher-for-longer rates backdrop. Combined with still-elevated oil prices and the historically weak seasonal pattern of September (especially in midterm election years), I expect volatility to remain elevated.

The important event to watch is the upcoming meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on September 24. Any signals on trade, tariffs, or broader geopolitical tensions could move markets. The outcome may move many AI-related stocks.

I continue to keep some cash on the sidelines and remain highly selective with any new investments. I will be watching oil prices, Treasury yields, Fed commentary, and developments around the Trump-Xi meeting closely next week.

Have a good evening!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Post

Shesa's Weekend Stock Market Updates - 8|16|26

Welcome to my weekend updates Last week most of the U.S. indexes finished the week mixed. The market extended its recent winning streak on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, supported by cooling CPI/inflation data and solid corporate results from some AI Data Center companies. This year the small-caps stocks outperformed, suggesting broader participation. So far, Q2 earnings season continued to impress, with a high percentage of S&P 500 companies beating estimates and overall earnings growth tracking around 50% , well above earlier forecasts as AI adoption continues. The AI infrastructure spending and related semiconductor companies have been delivering great results. More importantly,  the CPI and PPI data were good for investors as it reduced market odds of a September Fed rate hike from around 50% earlier in the week to around 30% by Friday.  Here is how the stock indices performed for the week: S&P 500 was up +0.4% to close at 7,785.76, marking its third c...
Read more

Shesa's September 2026 Investment Blog

                                                                                                              By Shesa Nayak Welcome to Shesa’s investment Blog!  U.S Stock Market Update The month of August was another productive month for the stock market. The Nasdaq rose approximately 4% , the S&P 500 gained 2.7% , the Dow was up 1.5% , and the small-cap Russell 2000 advanced about 1%. Although most major stock indexes are trading near their peaks, however roughly 40-50% of Nasdaq-100 stocks are trading more than 20% below their 52-week highs. On August 26, Nvidia ( NVDA ) delivered another outstanding quarter . Revenue more than doubled year-over-year ...
Read more

Shesa's Weekend Stock Market Updates - 8|23|26

Welcome to my weekend stock market updates U.S. stocks finished the week of August 17–21, 2026 lower overall, despite a solid rebound on Friday. The  rising Treasury yields brought apprehension to the market. The 30-year yield hit 19 years highs near 5.3% and higher oil prices (driven by Middle East/Iran-related tensions) weighed on sentiment earlier in the week. Inflation concerns and geopolitical uncertainty contributed to the pressure. The retail sector earnings  were mixed. This week we will have two extremely important events. But before that let's see the weekly stock market index:  S&P 500: Down -1.43% (closed at 7,674.37) Nasdaq Composite: Down -2.05% (closed at 26,180.46) Dow Jones Industrial Average: Down about -0.85% (closed at 53,277.01) Small-caps (Russell 2000): Down -1.65% . FED Minutes last week As inflation concerns deepened, several participants wanted an immediate increase due to broad-based price pressures, and “many” Fed members said further tig...
Read more