US Stocks Close Week Up Despite Major Index Declines
U.S. stocks experienced an uptick on Friday, September 11, 2026, as investors processed the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data. The Dow Industrial Average (^DJI) and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) both rose by approximately 1%. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) saw a gain of 0.9%. Despite this positive closing movement, major indexes reported weekly declines, concluding a four-day losing streak.
The market rally showed significant breadth, with all 11 sectors tracked by the S&P 500 posting gains. Key mega-cap stocks, including Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Meta (META), Tesla (TSLA), and Nvidia (NVDA), also traded positively.
Inflation Data Fuels Expectations of Fed Rate Hike
Investor attention centered on the CPI report, which is the final piece of inflation data before Federal Reserve policymakers convene next week. The data revealed that overall prices rose 3.4% year over year in August, which aligned with economic forecasts and was not different from the rate reported in July. On a monthly basis, prices increased by 0.4%, also in line with expectations, though this pace was quicker than the 0.1% gain seen in July.
Crucially, when excluding volatile food and energy costs—a metric often preferred by the Federal Reserve—the CPI rose 0.3% month over month, surpassing the estimated 0.2%. This reading prompted market participants to significantly increase their predictions regarding an interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve. According to the CME’s Fedwatch tool, markets were pricing in an 87% chance that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates by 25 basis points at the meeting next week. This represented a sharp increase from 72% the day before and 50% a week prior.
The persistent inflation, which currently stands well above the Fed’s 2% target, was reflected in Treasury yields. Yields on U.S. Treasurys increased slightly on Friday after initially falling following the inflation announcement, with the yield for the 10-year note (^TNX) closing the day just under 5%.
Energy Prices and Regional Conflict Drive Market Concerns
Energy prices complicated the overall economic picture. Diesel prices reached a record high, climbing above $6 per gallon on Friday. This steep increase was driven by global instability. Leading crude benchmarks, such as Brent crude (BZ=F) and WTI (CL=F), both remained elevated, remaining above $100 per barrel despite some fluctuations, following a sharp ascent earlier in the week.
Geopolitical events also impacted oil flow. Saudi Arabia announced that it had temporarily closed its vital East-West oil pipeline after encountering attacks on Thursday and Friday. This pipeline is a critical route for moving oil from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea, serving as a key alternative supply source given that the Strait of Hormuz is largely restricted for traffic. The closure, amid attacks attributed to the Yemen-based Houthi militant group, has heightened global concerns about energy supply.
Consumer Sentiment and Corporate Signals
Consumer sentiment showed signs of weakness. A preliminary survey from the University of Michigan indicated that consumer sentiment fell to 47.8 in September, a decline from 51.7 in August and falling below economists’ forecasts of 51. The inflation expectations for the next 12 months rose to 4.6% from 4% the previous month, marking the highest level since June.
In corporate news, Oracle (ORCL) reported robust cloud computing performance, with sales in its cloud infrastructure business jumping 121% to $7.4 billion. This figure surpassed the average analyst expectation of $7.19 billion.
Furthermore, in the AI sector, SpaceX‘s CFO, Bret Johnsen, detailed a significant contract win. He stated that the company had secured a new AI compute deal, which translates to approximately $13 billion of Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR).
SpaceX (SPCX) just inked another big AI compute deal, one that will take the space and rocket company closer to its $100 billion annual recurring revenue (ARR) target this year, a big metric for investors.
At the Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology Conference in San Francisco, CFO Bret Johnsen said a new AI compute deal has been reached in which SpaceX leases out compute bandwidth for third-party clients.”
“We’re on track, or we believe we’re on track to hit $100 billion ARR,” Johnsen said about SpaceX’s overall ARR target, as AI compute deals helped fuel the growth, before revealing the news. “What I would tell you, an update to that is that just earlier this month we closed another hosting deal, and that translates into about $1.11 billion a month starting December 1st of this year, which is another roughly $13 billion of ARR.”
Regarding technology policy, Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas noted that if the Clarity Act fails to pass through Congress, the crypto industry has alternative pathways for federal regulation. Haas stated:
“There was always three paths to getting Clarity,” Coinbase (COIN) CFO Alesia Haas told Yahoo Finance from the Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Tech Conference. (Disclosure: Yahoo Finance has a partnership with Coinbase.) “There was Congress, there were the agencies themselves, or there was the court system,” Haas explained. “So if Clarity doesn’t pass by Congress, we believe that we have a path via the SEC and the CFTC. Both Chair Selig [CFTC] and Atkins [SEC] have been incredibly innovative in trying to drive forward change in rulemaking at the agency level. And so we believe we’ll be able to offer new products and services via the agencies.”
