Market News

September 17, 2026 | Analysis based on the supplied sector review through the September 16 U.S. close.

Healthcare is showing early signs of renewed buying interest, while Consumer Staples is losing support. That divergence is the main finding from the latest review of all 11 S&P 500 sectors: investors appear increasingly selective about defensive exposure, with Healthcare improving and Staples’ tentative recovery fading.

For traders and investors, buying “defensives” as a single theme may miss the more useful opportunity: identifying which defensive sectors are actually attracting demand.

Healthcare: an early recovery that still needs follow-through

Healthcare’s assessment improves from Cooling Off to Early Accumulation, meaning buying…

The S&P 500 is looking to bounce ahead of the open today, with futures pointing higher by 0.8% currently. After all the noise surrounding the Fed decision yesterday, I would highlight the technical picture is worth paying attention to here.

Stocks sold off yesterday after the Fed raised interest rates by 25 bps to 3.75% - 4.00% and signalled that further tightening remains on the table. The decision itself was unanimous, while 16 of 18 policymakers are projecting at least one more rate hike before the end of this year.

That was enough to rile markets up initially, but the more interesting bit for stocks is arguably where the selling stopped.

The S&P 500 bounced right off its 100-day moving average (red line), which is sitting around 7,510 on…

FUNDAMENTAL OVERVIEW

Gold probed below the key $4,300 support again yesterday following the FOMC rate decision but eventually erased the losses. The Fed hiked by 25 bps as widely expected and projected one more rate hike in 2026. The central bank then forecasted rates to remain on hold throughout 2027, before coming down in 2028.

The market reaction to the decision was hawkish, even though there was nothing hawkish in it. The main takeaway from the event is that the Fed has low appetite for tightening. In fact, the consensus was for one more rate hike in 2026 and one in 2027.

The market, on the other hand, was pricing one more rate hike in 2026 and two in…

• Eurozone August final CPI +3.2% vs +3.3% y/y expected
• Prior +2.9%
• Eurozone August final core CPI +2.4% vs +2.4% y/y expected
• Prior +2.5%

The breakdownThe final estimate shows a mild revision lower to headline annual inflation, recording 3.2% in August. The monthly estimate still reaffirms a 0.4% move higher in consumer prices, pushing up the annual rate to the highest since May.

Energy price inflation remains the main culprit here, with that rising 14.3% in August compared to 10.3% in July.

Meanwhile, services inflation remains sticky at 3.0% in August but at least down from 3.3% in July. With that, core annual inflation is at least seen easing slightly to 2.4% in August compared to the 2.5% estimate in July.

The ECB focuses more on the core…

Bitcoin treasury companies are one of the key new players in crypto markets. These companies view bitcoin as a long-term investment rather than a short-term trading opportunity and often raise capital to acquire additional bitcoin. The model shows strength and power in a bull market. A higher price of Bitcoin can raise the worth of the company, draw in new investors and result in a cycle of additional fundraising and additional purchases. However, the exact opposite can be a problem when prices drop.

Since investors are constantly switching between major crypto assets and monitoring price trends like xrp price today, the trend of the Bitcoin treasury is relevant, as major selling pressure from larger investors could impact overall market…

The bond yield curve is one of the most useful indicators for understanding how markets are pricing the economic outlook. Rather than looking only at whether Treasury yields are rising or falling, traders also watch how yields move across different maturities. The relationship between short-term and long-term yields can provide clues about expectations for inflation, economic growth and the path of central bank policy.

This is where terms such as bear flattening, bull flattening, bear steepening and bull steepening come in. The terminology can sound complicated, but it is actually quite straightforward once you separate two questions:

• Are bond prices rising or falling?
• Is the curve becoming flatter or steeper?

"Bear" means bond prices are…

Barring a major surprise, there should not be too much suspense over the headline decision from the BOE later today. The central bank is widely expected to keep the bank rate at 3.75%, as markets are also pricing in nearly 80% odds of that outcome.

The more interesting question is what happens underneath that decision, and in particular whether the bank rate vote stays at 6-3 or narrows to 5-4.

The consensus is for another 6-3 vote, but the uncertainty centres mainly on which side of the fence Lombardelli decides to sit on. As things stand, she is the only wildcard after having previously highlighted the risk of second-round effects from persistently higher energy prices.

And energy prices have only moved higher since then, so the question…

Gold price forecast after the Fed: XAUUSD rebound puts bears on notice

By Itai Levitan | investingLive.com | September 17, 2026

Gold's rebound after the Federal Reserve's rate hike raises a question for traders: has the initial selloff trapped sellers and opened the door to another leg higher?

In my latest XAUUSD video analysis, I examine an hourly chart showing dip buyers stepping in after a move below the previous low around $4,282. Price subsequently recovered above the hourly 20-period exponential moving average (EMA), supporting an early bullish scenario. However, the potential bull flag still needs an upside breakout.

The Fed raised its target range by a quarter percentage point to 3.75%-4.00% on September 16. The focus here is how gold…

The Fed raised rates by 25 bps as expected yesterday and signalled another rate hike by year-end. The market reaction was hawkish with stocks, bonds and gold falling and the US dollar rising. But was the outcome really that hawkish or the market just overreacted to nothing? Let's see how it compared to the prevailing market pricing, consensus and past commentary.

STATEMENT 

The most notable changes in the statement were the vote split and the framing around inflation. The consensus was for one or two members dissenting in favour of a hold, but we got an unanimous decision. That could be read as slightly hawkish, but given the context and the credibility narrative, it's not such a big deal. 

In July, the Fed said that inflation remained…

European stocks are opening firmly higher, extending the relief move from yesterday:

• Eurostoxx +0.7%
• Germany DAX +0.8%
• France CAC 40 +0.5%
• UK FTSE +0.9%
• Spain IBEX +0.7%
• Italy FTSE MIB +0.7%

The main story to start the session is that markets are taking some comfort from the reaction in the long-end of the bond market after the Fed. The central bank raised rates by 25 bps to 3.75%-4.00% and maintained a hawkish message, but 10-year Treasury yields have stayed around the 5% mark rather than breaking sharply higher.

Why does that matter exactly?

Heading into the Fed, one of the biggest risks was that another hawkish policy signal would accelerate the global bond selloff. Instead, what we're seeing - at least for now - is some…