S&P 500 falls 0.80% in a four-session week as Brent tops US$107 and August CPI locks in a Fed hike

S&P 500 week close: 7,656.98 (-0.80%) Nasdaq Friday close: 26,333.04 (+0.96%) Sentiment: bearish

The S&P 500 closed the holiday-shortened week to 11 September 2026 at 7,656.98, down 0.80%, as Brent crude rose 8.65% to US$104.61 and the US 10-year yield climbed 19 basis points to 4.975%, its highest close since November 2023. TTAN.US lost 37.81% on the week after guiding third-quarter revenue to US$285 million to US$287 million, under the US$288 million consensus, and replacing its chief revenue officer. Friday's August CPI print of 3.4% year on year, with core up 0.3% on the month against a 0.2% consensus, took CME FedWatch odds of a 25 basis point hike at the 16 September FOMC to 90%.

The week on Wall Street

The S&P 500 closed at 7,656.98 on 11 September 2026, down 61.62 points or 0.80% from the 4 September close of 7,718.60, in a week cut to four sessions by the Labor Day holiday. The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.66% to 26,333.04, the Dow fell 1.57% to 52,573.29, the Russell 2000 dropped 2.41% to 2,903.94 and the VIX rose 9.02% to 15.84 after closing at 17.84 on Thursday.

The index fell in each of the first three sessions, from 7,718.60 to Thursday's 7,591.70, a losing run of four sessions counting 4 September, and Friday's 0.86% gain recovered about half of it. NVS.US fell 13.93% and AMGN.US 10.08% on Tuesday after Novartis reported that pelacarsen missed in a late-stage Lp(a) study, and the index lost 0.58%. Brent settled above US$100 on Wednesday for the first time since July after US forces destroyed five Iranian tankers; the index lost 0.48%. Thursday's 0.58% fall followed an August PPI print of 5.4% year on year and an 11 basis point jump in the 10-year yield to 4.94%.

Software fell for a second week: IGV.US -2.92%, with TTAN.US -37.81%, BRZE.US -25.09%, NAVN.US -24.33%, GWRE.US -13.24% and PATH.US -9.48% all lower after quarterly guidance. Semiconductors held: SMH.US +0.27%, with AMD.US +8.07%, INTC.US +7.45% and SWKS.US +19.36% against NVDA.US -5.24% and MU.US -4.07%. AI hardware rose on Friday after Oracle reiterated US$90 billion to US$95 billion of fiscal 2027 capex: DELL.US +11.98% and HPE.US +12.44% in the session, while ORCL.US itself ended the week 5.35% lower.

Sector scorecard (5-day)

SPDR sector ETFs, Friday 4 September to Friday 11 September.

• Best: Energy (XLE.US) +1.69%, with XOM.US +4.09% and CVX.US +2.62% as WTI rose 9.37% to US$100.05
• Communication Services (XLC.US) +0.51% and Technology (XLK.US) +0.21% were the only other sectors higher; META.US +5.07% on the Muse agent launch
• Worst: Health Care (XLV.US) -3.55%, with NVS.US -14.27%, AMGN.US -13.70%, UNH.US -4.55% and COO.US -22.53%
• Materials (XLB.US) -2.84% after copper fell 4.85% on Thursday to US$6.47 a pound on a Reuters report that the White House has not settled refined-copper tariffs; FCX.US -2.28%
• Consumer Discretionary (XLY.US) -1.70%, Industrials (XLI.US) -1.65% and Utilities (XLU.US) -1.60% filled out the bottom half
• Dispersion (best minus worst): 5.24 points

Top movers, week ending 11 September 2026

Names above US$2 billion in market value with average daily volume above 1 million shares.

ACVA.US rose 49.14% to US$10.41, most of it in Friday's 44.18% jump after Copart agreed to buy the company at US$10.50 a share, but sits under the screen's US$2 billion floor. ROIV.US rose 16.86% after its Phase 2 PHocus trial met its endpoint on 8 September, and SIG.US rose 17.54% on second-quarter adjusted EPS of US$2.19 against US$1.74 and a lifted FY27 guide.

Friday US session

• S&P 500: 7,656.98 (+0.86%)
• Nasdaq: 26,333.04 (+0.96%)
• Dow: 52,573.29 (+0.98%)
• Russell 2000: 2,903.94 (+0.45%)
• VIX: 15.84 (-11.21%)

August CPI at 8:30am ET rose 0.4% on the month and 3.4% on the year, both in line, while core rose 0.3% against a 0.2% consensus and 2.4% on the year. WTI fell 2.37% to US$100.05 and Brent fell 2.81% to US$104.61 from Thursday's US$107.63, the highest Brent close since 19 May. Nine of eleven S&P 500 sectors rose, advancers beat decliners by about 2.1 to 1 and the VIX dropped 2.00 points.

DELL.US rose 11.98% to US$567.29 and HPE.US 12.44% to US$62.09 after Oracle's Thursday-night report put fiscal 2027 capex at US$90 billion to US$95 billion and remaining performance obligations at US$664 billion; ORCL.US fell 1.74% on the day regardless. SMR.US fell 15.67% after UBS cut it to Sell, with OKLO.US down 9.18% and LEU.US down 8.18%. The University of Michigan's preliminary September sentiment index fell to 47.8 from 51.7 against a 51 consensus, and one-year inflation expectations rose to 4.6% from 4.0%.

Macro themes that played out

Brent crude rose 8.65% over the week to US$104.61 after Houthi strikes on Saudi energy sites reported before Tuesday's open and US strikes on five Iranian tankers on Wednesday; Thursday's close of US$107.63 was the highest since 19 May. US diesel reached a record US$6.05 a gallon on Friday. August PPI on Thursday rose 0.4% on the month and 5.4% on the year, with final-demand goods up 1.1%, and August CPI on Friday rose 0.4% on the month and 3.4% on the year. Headline CPI has risen a full percentage point since the Iran war began in late February.

CME FedWatch pricing for a 25 basis point hike at the 15 to 16 September meeting, which would take the target range to 3.75% to 4.00%, went from 58% after the 4 September payrolls report to 70% on Thursday morning and 90% after Friday's CPI. The 10-year Treasury yield rose 19.1 basis points on the week to 4.975%, 11 of them on Thursday, and the Treasury tripled its longer-dated buyback operation to US$6 billion on Wednesday. The dollar index ended the week 0.07% lower at 99.095.

The European Central Bank raised its deposit rate 25 basis points to 2.50% on Thursday, its second increase since the war began, after euro-area August inflation of 3.3%. Bitcoin fell 3.17% to US$77,148, and the Russell 2000's 2.41% fall was three times the S&P 500's.

Week ahead, Mon to Fri (ET)

• Mon 14 Sep: No first-tier US data. China August retail sales and industrial production overnight. Goldman Sachs Global Retailing and Morgan Stanley Global Healthcare conferences open.
• Tue 15 Sep: Empire State manufacturing at 8:30am; FOMC meeting day one; Treasury sells US$18 billion of 20-year bonds at 1:00pm; TCOM.US reports after the close.
• Wed 16 Sep: August retail sales and import and export prices at 8:30am; NAHB housing market index at 10:00am; FOMC decision at 2:00pm with new economic projections, and Chair Kevin Warsh's press conference at 2:30pm; LEN.US reports after the close, with consensus EPS of US$1.30 against US$2.00 a year ago.
• Thu 17 Sep: Bank of England decision, with Bank Rate at 3.75% and consensus for a hold; weekly jobless claims, August housing starts and building permits, and the Philadelphia Fed index at 8:30am; Bank of Japan meeting opens; Lennar call at 11:00am.
• Fri 18 Sep: Bank of Japan decision, which economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect to be a hike; August industrial production at 9:15am; leading index at 10:00am; quarterly options expiration.

August retail sales land at 8:30am on Wednesday, five and a half hours before the Fed decision, and three central banks decide within 48 hours of each other.

Context only, not financial advice. Track your own trades with Swingfolio.