A new record high

Stocks soared to all-time highs on Thursday as Wall Street bet that the Federal Reserve will be able to help the US avoid a recession as it enters a new easing cycle. The S&P 500 climbed 1.7%, notching its 39th record in 2024 and extending this year’s surge to about 20%. Tech led the advance. The Nasdaq 100 added 2.6% and the Russell 2000 of small caps rose for a seventh straight session. Bitcoin jumped 5%. The Fed’s bold start to cutting interest rates and its determination not to fall behind the curve re-ignited hopes the central bank will be able to stick a soft landing. Data on Thursday showed a slide in jobless claims to the lowest since May, signaling the labor market remains healthy despite a slowdown in hiring. The fundamentals of the US economy are healthy and investors’ new focus is on how fast the Fed will slash rates. Here’s your markets wrap.
--Margaret Sutherlin

In a welcome sign for homebuyers, mortgage rates continued their decline, hitting the lowest level since early February 2023. The average for a 30-year, fixed loan was 6.09%, down from 6.2% last week. Brokers and housing experts are optimistic that as rates continue to fall, buyers and sellers will return to a market that’s been dogged for years by high prices and low turnover and inventory. The spring selling season was the worst in a decade and US existing home sales in August continued the trend, falling to the lowest in nearly a year.

In China, “high quality” growth is the new economic mantra, not “high speed.” And that’s putting many of the white-collar workers around the country on unsure footing. They’re facing pay cuts, redundancies and attacks from the Communist Party. Industries like finance, consumer tech and property — key drivers of China's growth for much of this century — are quite suddenly now out of favor. Instead, President Xi Jinping is funneling resources toward endeavors such as electric vehicles and chip production. The sense of malaise raises a key question: What happens to an economy when you demotivate and demoralize some of your best and brightest workers?

The death toll from a series of walkie-talkie and pager explosions targeting Hezbollah militants this week rose to 37, according to authorities in Lebanon. In a speech Thursday, Hezbollah’s leader said the attacks were a severe blow, and vowed to retaliate against Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied it was behind the operations. Israel has, however, moved more troops to its northern border with Lebanon in recent days. The attacks have increased fears of a full-blown war between the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Israel. Tensions were already at a breaking point since the outbreak of the war in Gaza a year ago and near daily attacks between the two.

Vice President Kamala Harris is planning a town hall in battleground state Michigan with some added star power: Oprah Winfrey. Her early support of Barack Obama is credited with helping him win the 2008 Democratic nomination and she has been more engaged with Harris than any other campaign since. Meanwhile, vice presidential nominees courted chief executive officers in dueling meetings in Washington, as the two campaigns seek to win over major business leaders in an exceedingly tight race. Executives slated to attend the meetings included Mary Barra of General Motors, Home Depot’s Ted Decker, Jon Moeller of Procter & Gamble and Cisco Systems’ Chuck Robbins.

Severe rains bucketed central Europe, Africa, Shanghai and the US Carolinas this week, underscoring the extreme ways in which man-made climate change is altering the weather. Research has shown that hotter air is capable of carrying more moisture and is more likely to cause intense precipitation. And it’s not just the amount of rain that falls, but where it lands. The effects of climate change are not being felt equally across a warming world. At least 1,000 people have died in Africa, and millions of people have been displaced. In Europe, meanwhile, the toll is considerably lower, and government officials have already pledged vast sums of public funding to rebuilding.

The European Union warned Apple to open up its highly guarded iPhone and iPad operating systems to rival technologies, or eventually risk significant fines under its flagship digital antitrust rules. Regulators said Apple has six months to step into line with strict new laws on making operating systems fully functional with other technologies, or risk penalties. It’s the latest in a crackdown on big tech in Europe. Earlier this month, Apple and Google lost key tax and antitrust court cases and now face billions in penalties.

Nike ousted beleaguered Chief Executive John Donahoe, bringing longtime executive Elliott Hill out of retirement in an effort to return the struggling athletic brand to its glory days. Hill, 60, originally joined Nike in 1988 and served as president of consumer and marketplace before he retired in 2020. He will take over on Oct. 14. Donahoe, 64, will retire on Oct. 13 and will remain an adviser at Nike through Jan. 31. Nike shares jumped as much as 10% in extended New York trading.

On Sept. 17, the Evening Briefing mistakenly included a news story published Aug. 17. We regret the error.

Three little numbers can drastically alter the course of your financial life. Credit scores are a key tenet of American consumer financing, used by lenders to judge how well an individual can pay back their obligations. But they’re also part of a confusing, opaque system that even some experts don’t fully understand. And right now, if you’re a prospective borrower, your credit score could be more important than ever as the Fed lowers rates for the first time since 2020.

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