Top News Today: Stocks Edge Lower as Consumer Confidence Sinks

MARKET WRAPS

STOCKS: U.S. stocks ended modestly lower after a worrying monthly survey of consumer confidence was offset by a Federal Reserve official cautioning against hasty rate hikes.

TREASURYS: U.S. Treausury bond yields hovered around multiyear highs as investors remained concerned about long-term uncertainty.

FOREX: The dollar strengthened as yields ticked higher.

COMMODITIES: Crude futures declined as oil flows out of the Middle East recovered.

HEADLINES

Fed's Williams Hints Next Rate Increase Can Wait

A top Federal Reserve official suggested Tuesday that the central bank

could wait until December before raising interest rates again, pushing

back against market bets on a follow-up increase next month.

The remarks from New York Fed President John Williams carry particular

weight because as vice chair of the Fed's rate-setting committee, he has

typically sought to reflect the views of the committee's center of

gravity rather than stake out his own position.

Inflation remains too high, and another rate increase "late this year"

might be appropriate, Williams said. But for now, the Fed can likely take

time to review additional data before tightening policy further, he said.

Oura Postpones IPO Over Market Uncertainty

Smart-ring maker Oura said it was delaying its previously announced

initial public offering due to market uncertainty.

The San Francisco-based company, which was expected to fetch a

valuation well above the $11 billion achieved in a funding round last

year, said Tuesday it was postponing its listing "despite strong demand,

due to uncertainty in the IPO market."

Oura made its IPO paperwork public earlier this month. It said the

issue had attracted strong investor demand, but that the timing wasn't

right.

OpenAI Announces Enterprise-Focused 'Dots' AI Agents

OpenAI's annual DevDay event kicked off on Tuesday afternoon with the

company introducing its own highly anticipated artificial-intelligence

agent during a keynote from CEO Sam Altman.

Dubbed "Dots," Altman described them as "remarkably capable, always on

agents built to handle really anything you can think of," before showing

one working on website designs and slide decks, and managing users'

calendars.

Dots work across a variety of apps including calendars and Slack, and

can be interacted with directly through a browser-like interface in

ChatGPT. Subscriber who pay for ChatGPT Pro or Business Premium will gain

access to a dot today, and will eventually be able to add multiple dots

to their workflows.

U.S. Consumer Confidence Fell in September Amid Elevated Oil Prices,

Inflation Worries, Conference Board Says

Consumer confidence fell sharply in September as higher energy prices

and inflation worries soured households' moods, a monthly survey from The

Conference Board said.

The research group said its consumer confidence index fell by 6.7

points to 81.9 in September from 88.6 in August. Economists polled by The

Wall Street Journal had expected a higher reading of 89. September's

reading was the lowest reading since 2014.

"References to prices, the high cost of goods and services, and oil

and gas prices in particular, rose to new heights, reflecting September's

surge in fuel costs," said Dana M. Peterson, Chief Economist, The

Conference Board.

Piper Sandler Holds Talks to Buy Perella Weinberg

Investment bank Piper Sandler has been in talks to combine with

advisory firm Perella Weinberg Partners, according to people familiar

with the matter, in a deal that would join two Wall Street firms known

for their dealmaking.

Piper Sandler, which has a market value of around $5 billion, could

finalize a deal for Perella Weinberg, which has a market value of around

$1.4 billion, soon, the people said. Nothing is finalized and the

discussions could still fall apart, the people cautioned.

Piper Sandler was formed through the 2020 merger of Piper Jaffray and

Sandler O'Neill & Partners, two investment banks known for advising

smaller and midsize companies on deals. The firm is led by Chief

Executive Chad Abraham and reported roughly $1.9 billion in revenue last

year.

AT&T, Corning Enter $3 Billion Deal for Fiber

AT&T signed a $3 billion deal with Corning, which will supply the

mobile carrier with the fiber and cable needed to expand its network and

meet growing demand for data.

The telecommunications company said its multi-year deal with Corning

will help it to achieve its goal of bringing fast and reliable internet

to 60 million Americans by the end of 2030.

The average AT&T fiber household now uses more than one terabyte of

data each month, up fivefold from a decade ago, the companies said

Tuesday. Monthly use is expected to continue to grow as streaming,

gaming, video calls, cloud services and artificial intelligence become a

bigger part of everyday life.

TALKING POINT Lazy Customers Are Great for Banks. Could AI Change that?

AI assistants may soon run your financial life. That could be a big problem for banks.

Americans forgo untold sums of money every year on what some might call a laziness tax, for oversights like failing to refinance their mortgage or incurring a late fee after forgetting to pay a bill. Another silent wealth killer: keeping too much cash sitting in checking or savings accounts that pay little or no interest.

Now, artificial intelligence is threatening to put an end to all that.

Apollo Global Management Chief Economist Torsten Slok recently raised the prospect of an AI-induced bank run, saying that people could use bots to sweep their money into accounts that pay higher interest rates.

Slok's observation was widely shared on X, and brought to the fore other ways AI could save people money-and hit corporate profits.

"Consumer inertia has been a very powerful force in shaping the financial industry," said John Campbell, a professor of economics at Harvard University.

--Ben Glickman, The Wall Street Journal

Expected Major Events for Wednesday 01:00/JPN: Aug Steel Imports & Exports Statistics

04:30/JPN: Aug Preliminary Report on Petroleum Statistics

05:00/JPN: Aug Housing Starts

05:00/JPN: Aug Construction Orders

06:00/UK: 2Q Balance of Payments

06:00/UK: 2Q Business investment revised results

06:00/UK: 2Q UK quarterly national accounts

06:00/GER: Aug Foreign trade price indices

06:00/GER: Aug Retail Trade

06:45/FRA: Aug PPI

06:45/FRA: Aug Household consumption expenditure in manufactured goods

06:45/FRA: Sep Provisional CPI

07:55/GER: Sep Labour market statistics (incl unemployment)

08:00/ITA: Sep Consumer Confidence Survey

08:00/ITA: Sep Business Confidence Survey

08:00/GER: Sep Brandenburg CPI

08:00/GER: Sep Bavaria CPI

08:00/GER: Sep North Rhine Westphalia CPI

08:00/GER: Sep Saxony CPI

08:00/GER: Sep Hesse CPI

08:00/GER: Sep Baden-Wuerttemberg CPI

09:00/ITA: Sep Provisional CPI

09:00/ITA: Sep Cities CPI

11:00/US: 09/25 MBA Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey

12:00/GER: Sep Provisional CPI

12:15/US: Sep ADP National Employment Report

12:30/US: 2Q Revised Corporate Profits

12:30/US: 2Q 3rd estimate GDP

12:30/US: Aug Advance Economic Indicators Report

12:30/US: 2Q State Quarterly Personal Income

12:30/US: Aug Personal Income and Outlays

12:30/US: 2Q GDP by State

13:45/US: Sep Chicago Business Barometer - ISM-Chicago Business Survey Chicago PMI

14:00/US: Aug Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment

14:30/US: 09/25 EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report

23:01/UK: CBI Financial Services Survey

23:50/JPN: 3Q Tankan Survey of Enterprises in Japan

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Expected Earnings for Wednesday Bassett Furniture Industries Inc (BSET) is expected to report $0.12 for 3Q.

Bio-Path Holdings Inc (BPTH) is expected to report for 2Q.

Cal-Maine Foods Inc (CALM) is expected to report $-0.77 for 1Q.

Conagra Brands Inc (CAG) is expected to report $0.29 for 1Q.

Factset Research Systems Inc (FDS) is expected to report $3.88 for 4Q.

Jabil Inc (JBL) is expected to report $3.39 for 4Q.

Micron Technology Inc (MU) is expected to report $31.35 for 4Q.

Obsidian Therapeutics Inc (OBX) is expected to report for 2Q.

Progress Software Corp (PRGS) is expected to report $0.38 for 3Q.

Taylor Devices Inc (TAYD) is expected to report $0.82 for 1Q.

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September 29, 2026 16:41 ET (20:41 GMT)