On Wednesday, the three major US indices closed mixed as the latest economic data showed inflation in the United States slowed last month.

The August Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index rose 3.4% year-over-year, down from 3.7% the previous month. Core PCE, which excludes food and energy, rose 3.0% year-over-year, down from 3.3% the prior month.

Wednesday marked both the final day of September and the close of the third quarter. For September, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average finished lower, while the Nasdaq gained over 1%. For the third quarter, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose 2%, while the Dow fell nearly 2%.

US Stocks

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 441.25 points, or 0.86%, to 50,908.67. The S&P 500 declined 18.90 points, or 0.25%, to 7,651.94. The Nasdaq Composite added 63.52 points, or 0.24%, to 26,861.06.

Intel (INTC.US) rose 3.71%, Apple (AAPL.US) gained 1.1%, Nvidia (NVDA.US) added 0.51%, and Alphabet (GOOG.US) climbed 0.93%. Moderna (MRNA.US) dropped 5.35%, and Ford Motor (F.US) fell 1.95%. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index rose 0.6%, with Baidu (BIDU.US) up 0.18% and Alibaba (BABA.US) down 0.17%.

European Stocks

Germany's DAX 30 fell 177.55 points, or 0.70%, to 25,197.74. The UK's FTSE 100 declined 30.80 points, or 0.29%, to 10,605.91. France's CAC 40 dropped 71.36 points, or 0.89%, to 7,964.51. The Euro Stoxx 50 lost 52.31 points, or 0.83%, to 6,267.95. Spain's IBEX 35 fell 90.82 points, or 0.47%, to 19,426.68. Italy's FTSE MIB declined 462.44 points, or 0.89%, to 51,342.50.

Asia-Pacific Stocks

Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.94%, South Korea's KOSPI fell 0.48%, and Indonesia's Composite Index declined 0.83%.

Forex

The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, rose 0.08% on the day to close at 101.451 in late New York trading. As of the close, 1 euro fetched 1.1332 dollars, down from 1.1341 the previous session; 1 pound traded at 1.3262 dollars, up from 1.3229. The dollar bought 157.34 yen, up from 157.22; 0.8354 Swiss francs, up from 0.8336; 1.4229 Canadian dollars, up from 1.4178; and 10.0103 Swedish kronor, up from 9.9892.

The Dollar Index gained nearly 2% in September, its best monthly performance since March. The Federal Reserve refocused policy on curbing inflation, driving up market rate expectations and Treasury yields, which supported the dollar. Although the latest PCE inflation came in below expectations, prompting traders to lower their October rate hike expectations, the market has fully priced in a December hike and expects the Fed to tighten by a cumulative 90 basis points over the next 12 months. Fed officials have also continued to signal a hawkish stance, with New York Fed President Williams saying another rate hike later this year "could be appropriate." Meanwhile, US economic data remains strong, the Iran war has pushed up energy prices and heightened inflation risks, and the 30-year Treasury yield rose this week to its highest level since 2002. In September, all G10 currencies except the yen fell against the dollar. However, some technical indicators suggest the dollar's rally may be starting to overextend, with momentum indicators entering overbought territory.

Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin hovered near 83,000 dollars, trading at 83,560 dollars as of press time. Ethereum fell 0.1% to 2,678 dollars.

Precious Metals

Spot gold traded at 4,156.92 dollars per ounce, and spot silver at 60.42 dollars per ounce.

Crude Oil

November-delivery light crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 1.04 dollars to settle at 90.42 dollars per barrel, up 1.16%. November-delivery Brent crude on the London exchange rose 94 cents to settle at 103.53 dollars per barrel, up 0.92%.

Macro News

Fed's Cook: Committed to Bringing Inflation Back to 2% Target. Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook said overall US inflation has remained above the Fed's 2% target for more than five years. She supported a 25 basis point rate hike at the September meeting and stressed her commitment to restoring price stability while keeping the job market strong. She noted that about 20 million workers live in rural US communities, accounting for roughly one-eighth of the US workforce. The overall unemployment rate in these areas is near the national level, but labor force participation is lower and job growth has been slower than in urban areas in recent years. Rural inflation was at times higher than urban inflation after the pandemic, mainly due to rising energy prices and housing costs. Cook pointed out that rural households spend about a quarter of their total expenditures on transportation, higher than urban households, making them more sensitive to energy price increases. She also noted that small businesses play an important role in the rural economy, with about 4.3 million small businesses in rural America, accounting for over 96% of local businesses and providing 7.4 million jobs.

Trump Again Criticizes Fed Renovation Project, Calls for Investigation of Powell. US President Trump said in a post that a Fed Inspector General report showed "project management deficiencies" in the renovation of the Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington, DC. Trump criticized the project for severe cost overruns, saying it exceeded the budget by hundreds of millions of dollars and that the final cost would reach at least 2.5 billion dollars according to the report. He asked Attorney General Todd Blanche to review the report and decide on next steps. Trump cited the report as saying the Fed Board did not receive a project cost estimate from the construction manager until January 2026, three and a half years after the project began, by which time more than 2 billion dollars in construction contracts had already been awarded. As of July 2026, more than four years after the project started, the Fed still had not determined a guaranteed maximum price, making the final cost uncertain and failing to transfer relevant risks to the construction manager. Trump said the final cost could rise to 3.5 billion dollars or even 4 billion dollars, and criticized that the building's design and historical elements might not be restored after the renovation, saying "they destroyed the beauty and glorious history of this building." He again demanded that then-Fed Chair Powell resign, saying that if he refused, the US government should consider pursuing accountability through legal channels.

US Oil Industry Warns Diesel Prices May Not Normalize Within a Year. According to reports, US oil and gas companies warned that diesel prices may take more than a year to return to 2025 levels. A Dallas Fed survey of 100 energy companies showed that nearly half of respondents expect diesel prices to take more than four quarters to fall back to normal levels. The survey showed that the Iran war disrupted Middle East supply, while Ukrainian attacks on Russian refining facilities together exacerbated global diesel supply tightness. One energy company respondent said diesel is a vital fuel for the economy, and the market is only just beginning to feel the impact of high prices on the broader economy. The Trump administration has recently discussed measures including restricting diesel exports and pushing allies to release inventories to lower domestic fuel costs. Analysts warned that while a diesel export ban might increase US domestic supply in the short term, it could raise fuel prices in the long run and hit markets such as Europe and Latin America that rely on US diesel supplies.

SEC Proposes Easing Private Investment Thresholds to Boost Retail Access to Private Markets. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday proposed a series of reforms aimed at expanding individual investors' access to private markets, allowing more retail investors to engage with private equity, early-stage startups and other alternative assets. One proposal would allow registered investment advisers to charge performance fees of up to 20% based on fund performance, bringing the fee model closer to the "2% management fee plus 20% performance fee" structure used by some hedge funds, in order to attract more private fund managers to serve individual investors. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said the commission hopes to explore ways to expand individual investor participation in private markets while guarding against fraud and misconduct. The SEC also proposed broadening the definition of "accredited investor" to allow more individuals with professional qualifications, including certified public accountants and chartered financial analysts, to qualify for investment.

US EV Electricity Demand Growth Slows to Three-Year Low. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said that as electric vehicle demand cools, the growth in US EV electricity consumption has slowed to its lowest level in at least three years, another sign of a cooling EV market. EIA data released Wednesday showed that in the first half of 2026, electricity consumption by light-duty EVs, including passenger cars, rose 8% year-over-year, well below the 13% to 24% growth rates of recent years. The growth rate had previously peaked at 24% in the second half of 2023. The slowdown in EV electricity demand growth comes as market demand also weakens. Federal tax credits that lowered purchase and lease costs expired in September 2025. According to EIA data, US new EV sales in the first half of 2026 fell 19% from the previous six months. Meanwhile, automakers including Ford Motor and Honda have cut poorly selling EV models since late last year. Even so, despite slowing sales growth, light-duty EV electricity consumption has more than doubled since 2023. EIA data showed that US light-duty EV electricity consumption reached nearly 14 billion kilowatt-hours in the first half of this year.

Company News

Nvidia, Meta and Other AI Giants Question Anthropic's "Overwarning." According to reports, after the White House pushed major US AI companies to sign a statement of AI safety principles, divisions within the industry over AI risks and regulatory approaches have surfaced. People familiar with the matter said that tech executives including Nvidia (NVDA.US) CEO Jensen Huang asked Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei during a White House event why he had publicly stressed risks such as cyberattacks and extreme job losses that AI models could bring, arguing that his public statements were too aggressive. Amodei responded that the industry needs to honestly explain AI model capabilities and potential risks to the public rather than downplay the issues. The discussion took place during a meeting between Trump and about a dozen AI company executives aimed at promoting industry self-regulation. Anthropic has long advocated stricter safety measures and has criticized some companies and governments for underestimating AI risks, while executives such as Nvidia and Meta Platforms (META.US) CEO Zuckerberg support a more industry-self-regulatory approach that promotes rapid AI development. Previously, Anthropic, OpenAI and Google considered creating an AI regulator similar to financial industry self-regulatory organizations, but the plan was ultimately abandoned because Huang, Zuckerberg and SpaceX (SPCX.US) CEO Musk worried the mechanism could concentrate more power among leading AI companies.

Musk Returns to Trump Camp, Joins Pentagon Future War Research Project. US Defense Secretary Hegseth announced that SpaceX (SPCX.US) CEO Musk, Anduril founder Palmer Luckey and former House Speaker Gingrich will lead the Pentagon's "Project Meridian" to study future forms of warfare and next-generation military capabilities. Hegseth said the project aims to draw on the experience of American innovators, technology experts and veteran leaders to explore key domains, weapons and systems needed in future conflicts, rather than drafting new policy documents. The project is expected to submit final results within 120 days and publish both a public version and a classified report. The project also marks the first time Musk has formally taken a role as an adviser tied to the Trump administration since his public feud with Trump last year and his departure from the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk's SpaceX has long carried out US national security launch missions, while Anduril provides jamming devices, interception systems, rocket engines and unmanned combat systems to the US Department of Defense.

Micron's Q1 Revenue Guidance Tops Expectations as AI Demand Remains Strong. Micron Technology (MU.US) reported fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter revenue of 54.229 billion dollars, compared with 11.315 billion dollars a year earlier and market expectations of 50.584 billion dollars. Micron also gave a current-quarter sales forecast that exceeded expectations, as the rapid development of artificial intelligence drove unprecedented demand. The company said in a Wednesday statement that it expects first-quarter revenue of about 60 billion to 63 billion dollars, compared with an analyst average estimate of 56.8 billion dollars. The company expects memory and storage supply-demand conditions in fiscal 2027 and 2028 to be much tighter than in 2026. Excluding certain items, profit will be about 38.15 dollars per share, versus a forecast of 36.02 dollars. After the report, the stock rose less than 1% in after-hours trading. Morgan Stanley analysts said: "We believe near-term market conditions remain very good, with strong demand and price increases evident. The discussion has clearly shifted from how good it can get to how long the good times can last?"

Google Releases Gemini 4 Argon Model, Focused on Complex Reasoning and AI Coding Capabilities. Alphabet (GOOG.US) unit DeepMind released its next-generation frontier model Gemini 4 Argon, saying it has frontier performance in complex tasks such as software engineering, enterprise knowledge work including legal and financial work, and cybersecurity defense. Google said Gemini 4 Argon is currently being made available to selected trusted cybersecurity defenders through "Project Fairwind" and will gradually roll out to developers, enterprises and consumers after further safety measures are completed. The model is initially priced at 2 dollars per million input tokens and 10 dollars per million output tokens, with cached input tokens priced 95% lower than input. Google said Argon supports output lengths of up to 1 million tokens, up from 64,000 tokens previously, enabling it to handle longer, more complex tasks. Google said Argon has been used in internal code development, research and engineering optimization tasks, including helping a quantum computing team optimize algorithms, analyze data center operating data and free more than 300 TiB of memory resources. In software engineering, Google said Gemini 4 Argon scored 77.9% on the DeepSWE v1.1 real-world software engineering test and led in evaluations in areas such as financial research, legal research and enterprise automation. In cybersecurity, Google said Argon can autonomously discover, verify and fix software vulnerabilities and scored 68% on the CWE-bench v1 vulnerability fix test, tying for first place with the highest-performing models. Google said that before full release, it will continue to strengthen anti-abuse measures, prompt injection attack defenses, model behavior monitoring and secure sandboxes. Google said Gemini 4 Argon will subsequently be made available to paid API customers and Google AI Ultra users.