US Market Wrap 18 September: A Split Close to Fed Week as Buffett Gives Up the Berkshire Chair at 96
Wall Street closed its Fed week split down the middle. The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.67 percent to 29,644.17 and the S&P 500 added 0.17 percent for a second straight gain on our boards, while the Dow slipped 0.18 percent and the Russell 2000 lost 0.50 percent, and in a Friday letter to shareholders Warren Buffett announced he is stepping down as Berkshire Hathaway’s chairman at 96, handing the chair to his son Howard, per the network. Brent settled at 103.87 dollars a barrel, 0.91 percent lower, a third straight lower settlement, as published in this evening’s commodities wrap.
Technology carries a board that cannot agree on a direction
The split ran through the whole tape. Technology led the sectors at 0.81 percent higher and industrials followed at 0.47 percent, while the rows at the bottom, real estate, materials and utilities, fell 0.94, 1.10 and 1.40 percent. Four of the 11 sectors rose, and the gap between technology and utilities was 2.21 percentage points, on our calculation. The volatility index unwound another 4.08 percent to 14.81, and Bitcoin rose 5.97 percent to 81,078.97 dollars at our 20:24 GMT capture, a risk bid that showed up in crypto rather than in small caps, on our reading.
Top gainers
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Nasdaq 100 | 29,644.17 | +0.67% |
| Nasdaq Composite | 26,522.55 | +0.39% |
| S&P 500 | 7,650.50 | +0.17% |
Top gainers, closes of Friday 18 September 2026 from the vendor’s feed at our 20:24 GMT capture, confirmed on a second pull, ranked by change; every change recomputed from the feed’s own level and change against its prior close. The Nasdaq Composite change recomputes to +0.39 percent on that basis; the feed’s display rounds it +0.40.
Top losers
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Russell 2000 | 2,860.40 | -0.50% |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 51,682.64 | -0.18% |
Top losers, closes of Friday 18 September 2026, same capture and basis. Ranked by change.
S&P 500 sectors
| Sector | Change |
|---|---|
| Information technology | +0.81% |
| Industrials | +0.47% |
| Financials | +0.06% |
| Real estate | -0.94% |
| Materials | -1.10% |
| Utilities | -1.40% |
Top 3 and bottom 3 of the 11 S&P 500 sectors, closes of Friday 18 September 2026 from the vendor feed at the same 20:24 GMT capture, ranked.
US Treasury par yield curve
| Maturity | 18 Sep | 17 Sep | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 year | 4.76% | 4.67% | +9bp |
| 3 year | 4.83% | 4.75% | +8bp |
| 5 year | 4.86% | 4.78% | +8bp |
| 10 year | 5.01% | 4.94% | +7bp |
| 30 year | 5.34% | 5.29% | +5bp |
The official daily par yield curve for 18 and 17 September 2026, read at 20:57 GMT; the Treasury derives the curve from indicative bid side quotations. Changes are versus Thursday, in basis points.
Buffett hands the chair to his son
The Berkshire announcement came in a letter to shareholders on Friday. Buffett, who has led the company since 1965, becomes chairman emeritus effective immediately and stays on the board, with his son Howard Buffett taking the chair under a long standing succession plan and Susan Decker continuing as lead independent director, per the network’s report. The letter’s line for the occasion was that Father Time always wins but has been generous, and the handover completes the transition to Greg Abel, who took over as chief executive a little more than nine months ago, per the same report. The report notes the stock is up about 1 percent in 2026 against a rally of more than 11 percent in the S&P 500, with a 365.5 billion dollar cash pile and buybacks that reached 4.5 billion dollars in the second quarter, so the question shareholders are left holding is the one the letter cannot answer: how the company deploys that capital without the man who built it in the chair.
Commodities
| Contract | Level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Gold, COMEX (Dec’26), dollars an ounce | $4,419.40 | +0.45% |
| Silver, COMEX (Dec’26), dollars an ounce | $66.935 | +1.27% |
| Brent Crude, ICE (Nov’26), dollars a barrel | $103.02 | -1.72% |
| WTI Crude, NYMEX (Oct’26), dollars a barrel | $99.35 | -2.51% |
Carried verbatim from our Commodities Wrap of 18 September 2026: levels captured after the settlement window at 20:22 GMT, measured against Thursday’s settlements, settlement to snapshot; the wire settlements, Brent 103.87 and WTI 100.30 dollars, are cited in the lede.
Currencies, volatility and crypto
| Instrument | Level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Cboe Volatility Index | 14.81 | -4.08% |
| Bitcoin, dollars | 81,078.97 | +5.97% |
| US Dollar Index (DXY) | 100.193 | -0.05% |
| Euro/Dollar | 1.1487 | +0.11% |
| Sterling/Dollar | 1.3393 | +0.28% |
| Dollar/Yen | 156.76 | +0.51% |
Intraday quotes captured at 20:24 GMT, fixed row order, one call, one stamp; the VIX row is the session’s last print on the vendor’s feed.
Asia, session of Friday 18 September 2026
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Kospi (South Korea) | 6,894.23 | +2.66% |
| Taiex (Taiwan) | 47,180.75 | +1.93% |
| Shenzhen Component (China) | 13,640.87 | +1.72% |
| Nikkei 225 (Japan) | 65,018.95 | +1.38% |
| Shanghai Composite (China) | 3,911.87 | +0.94% |
| Hang Seng (Hong Kong) | 24,750.78 | +0.60% |
| Nifty 50 (India) | 23,346.40 | +0.33% |
| ASX 200 (Australia) | 8,731.20 | -0.01% |
| Topix (Japan) | 4,091.14 | -0.07% |
| Straits Times (Singapore) | 5,656.11 | -0.08% |
Carried from our Asia Market Wrap of Friday 18 September 2026, gainers then losers, ranked by change.
Europe, session of Friday 18 September 2026
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| DAX (Germany), Xetra close | 25,304.06 | -1.60% |
| FTSE MIB (Italy) | 51,545.25 | -1.60% |
| IBEX 35 (Spain) | 19,513.80 | -1.60% |
| CAC 40 (France) | 8,065.02 | -1.49% |
| Euro Stoxx 50 (euro area) | 6,230.42 | -1.46% |
| FTSE 100 (United Kingdom) | 10,659.13 | -1.45% |
| SMI (Switzerland) | 13,786.72 | -1.15% |
| Stoxx Europe 600 (Europe) | 635.43 | -1.12% |
| AEX (Netherlands) | 1,095.09 | -0.52% |
Carried from our Europe Market Wrap of Friday 18 September 2026: every index on the board fell, ranked by change; closes confirmed at each exchange or index administrator, and the STOXX values are the administrator’s 17:30 CET prints.
Why it matters: The week’s three central bank decisions, a Federal Reserve rise, a Bank of England hold and a Bank of Japan rise, are all in the price now, and Friday’s tape shows what the market did with them: it kept paying for growth, kept selling what rates hurt, and put its spare risk appetite into crypto. A board where technology leads, real estate, materials and utilities sit at the bottom and the volatility index closes at 14.81 is not a market bracing for the higher-rate world, it is one that has accepted it, on our reading. The Berkshire handover belongs in the same frame: a generational transfer of the chairmanship landed on a day the index barely moved, which reads as an announcement the market had thoroughly expected, on our reading.
Outlook: Our Middle East wrap returns Sunday and the Asia wrap opens the new week on Monday’s sessions. Next Thursday the Bank of Japan’s new rates take effect, the first test of how the market carries them, and the commodities wrap takes Monday’s settlements, with the pipeline outage’s September deadline the open item under the barrel.
Sources: CNBC, US Department of the Treasury, The Edge.
