This Week on Wall Street
Your weekly cheat sheet — what's moving markets, what's coming up, and what it means for your portfolio. No jargon, just clarity.
This Week in Markets
Stocks fell Wednesday as the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate 25 basis points to 3.75%-4.00% — the first hike since 2023 — with Chair Kevin Warsh's hawkish tone on inflation overshadowing the widely expected move; the S&P 500 dropped 0.45% to 7,551.81, the Dow tumbled 1.21% to 51,461.90, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped a scant 0.01% to 25,978.42 as AI-linked names like Nvidia and Dell held up. The 10-year Treasury yield pushed back above 5%, its highest since 2007, pressuring Financials and Energy — Goldman Sachs sank nearly 4% — while resilient buying kept Technology and Communication Services atop the sector leaderboard for the week. All three benchmarks are now down roughly 1.3%-2.1% week-to-date. The VIX closed at 17.20 and the CNN Fear & Greed Index eased to 29 (Fear) as investors digest a Fed dot plot pointing to one more hike in 2026. Attention turns to this morning's weekly jobless claims and August housing starts data along with Lennar's fiscal Q3 results, which missed estimates as net earnings fell to $284 million on a 9% drop in new orders — an early sign that surging mortgage-linked yields are cooling housing demand.