What are today's top business/market headlines?

Today's Top Business/Market Headlines (September 18, 2026)

1. Fed's First Rate Hike in 3 Years Continues to Roil Markets
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time in more than three years, taking the target range to 3.75%-4%. Stocks were mixed after a sell-off sparked by the Fed's decision, which boosted rates by a quarter percentage point to 3.75%-4% — its first increase since July 2023 — in a unanimous vote. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said "the plain fact is that inflation is too high and has been for too long." Notably, the bigger message for investors was that the central bank may not be finished raising rates, with the Fed's latest projections pointing to another quarter-point increase this year.

2. Markets Rebound After Fed-Day Slump
After initially selling off, the Nasdaq rallied over 400 points, or 1.6%, while the S&P rallied more than 1% on Thursday. The 10-year Treasury yield, which had climbed back over 5% during Warsh's press conference, fell more than 5 basis points to 4.949%.

3. Trump-Warsh Tension Over Rate Policy
The rate decision drew a sharp reaction from President Trump. Trump described telling Warsh "you might as well vote with the Board because it's not gonna matter," calling the committee "very hostile" and "very political." He then took to Truth Social demanding rates of "1%, or less, because we are the Best Credit in the World—BY FAR."

4. Oil Prices Easing as Saudi Supply Routes Recover
Crude has pulled back after weeks of turmoil tied to the Iran war. Saudi crude loadings at its Mideast Gulf ports are up this month, and ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman have risen to 2.7 million barrels per day compared with 1.5 million bpd in August. Still, risks remain: "Risk remains skewed toward a larger disruption if the pipeline outage extends past September or Iran, the Houthis, or other proxy groups escalate attacks."

5. J.B. Hunt Warns on Earnings
In corporate news, J.B. Hunt stock plunged 13% after the company warned third-quarter earnings will fall.

6. Congress Sends Russia Sanctions Bill to Trump
On the policy front, the House passed a sweeping Russia sanctions bill honoring Lindsey Graham and sent it to Trump.

7. AI Infrastructure Deals Continue
Tech/AI infrastructure spending remains a major theme, with Qualcomm partnering with Amazon Web Services to "help build out AWS" AI Infrastructure.

Bottom line: Markets are digesting the Fed's hawkish turn and Trump's public pushback against Fed Chair Warsh, while easing (though still elevated) oil prices tied to Middle East supply disruptions remain a key swing factor for inflation expectations and future rate decisions.