Market Close: Stocks Mixed, Q3 Mixed, Micron Delivers Strong Results • 9/30/26

CNBC Business News Update. I'm Jessica Ettinger. Wall Street opens Thursday morning after a mixed final day of September trading for the major averages. It was a mixed third quarter as well. On Wednesday, the Dow plunged 443.8% It was led lower by shares of Walmart, which were down almost 3%. Merck shares were down 2.6%. The S&P 500 index down 19 points. The Nasdaq was in the green. It was up 63 points. Only the Nasdaq had a winning September. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 index each had winning third quarters. For the year, the major averages are all higher. Year-to-date, the Dow up 6%, the S&P up 12%, the Nasdaq is up 15% so far for the year. CNBC's Mike Santoli asks the question that investors are all thinking about. >> The second half of this quarter has been an absolute mess below the headline index. All these pockets of the market are getting washed out. >> By the end of Wednesday trading, bond yields were rising again. The rate on the 10-year note was just shy of 5.3% and mortgage rates hit a nearly 3-year high. The average rate on a 30-year fixed home loan sitting at 7.6% according to Mortgage News Daily. Micron out with strong quarterly results, beat on earnings, and issued a strong forecast. RBC's Sheena Pagor tells CNBC he's bullish. >> There is no signs of any slowdown in terms of AI spending. Um as we see the workloads within AI expand into inferencing and also agentic AI, we are seeing increased use of memory. You know, these workloads need lot more memory than, you know, the your your typical workloads. You know, that's a secular trend that's going to continue. >> Google is out with a new AI model, Gemini 4 Argon. It was expected last spring, but delayed. It's being used internally. Google says it's working with the US government on its safety. >> Google is initially limiting access to select cybersecurity defenders and some enterprise cloud customers while working with the US government on pre-release safety evaluations. This, of course, coming a day after CEO Sundar Pichai signed President Trump's voluntary AI safety accord at the White House and a Sam >> Altman tells CNBC OpenAI is holding back its latest Astra model over safety concerns. >> CNBC's McKenzie Sigalos. The Federal Trade Commission confirmed to CNBC it's investigating OpenAI, Anthropic, and other AI companies over potential dangers. This comes a day after major AI players from the tech world signed a voluntary agreement at the White House aimed at self-regulation that the president called morally binding. Crude oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz have hit pre-war levels, according to Kepler, but the fuel shipments, those are still too low. That's the final product that comes out of oil. That's what's worrying the market now. The world is facing a fuel crisis with diesel prices at or near record highs, which poses a major threat to the health of the global economy. Slowing inflation in August in the PCE, the personal consumption expenditures report, the rate of price increase at 3.4%. That was a little slower than July's 3.7% rate. The Fed's target for inflation, 2%. Pre-pandemic rate of inflation for 2019, 1.8%. On Thursday's watch list, earnings are coming from Nike. We find out how many people applied for unemployment benefits last week. CNBC holds an AI forum in Dallas, Texas. You can see that on CNBC TV and at cnbc.com and the CNBC app on your phone. Jessica Ettinger CNBC.