Market Close: Stocks Slide, 10-Year Yield Hits 19-Year High, Oil Higher • 9/23/26

0:00CNBC Business News Update. I'm Jessica Ettinger. Wall Street opens Thursday morning after a losing Wednesday for stocks. Oil higher. Treasury yields popped. The yield on the 10-year Treasury hitting a 19-year high above 5.1%. Here's CNBC's Rick Santelli. Look at yields go over 5 % in the 10. Interest rates, well, they've had one close. That was Fed Wednesday above 5 % all the way back to 2007. Another one today. Checking stocks, the Dow was down 351 points, led lower by shares of McDonald's down 4%. The S &P 500 index down 58. The Nasdaq fell 308 points. That was more than 1%. U.S. crude oil was back up Wednesday.

0:46day. No relief in sight for record high diesel prices. Diesel powers trucks, trains and tractors. AAA says the national average for a gallon of diesel,$6.52. And CNBC's Pippa Stevens went to Iowa to talk to farmers. For farmers, right now we are in harvest season and so these record high diesel prices couldn't come at a worse time. So that is the backdrop here in Iowa as we head into the midterms. You have an open Senate seat, a governor race, and two of the four House seats are open. And Democrats are really hoping to make inroads here in Iowa, a state that recently has swung solidly to the right.

1:25Meantime, there are conflicting reports over whether the U.S. is eyeing a diesel export ban to stop selling it overseas. It would bring prices down for Americans, but U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright saying a ban won't work and instead would raise gas and jet fuel prices. McDonald's CEO expects high inflation is here to stay for a while, and it's impacting his business. There's been elevated inflation, and one of the things I've talked to our team about is we need to stop talking about that being a difficult environment and just say that is the environment. That's McDonald's CEO Chris Kamchinsky.

2:00He says the chain will grow its chicken and beverage categories to bring in more people. Investors are turning their attention to China's President Xi and his visit to Washington, China's state newspaper, the People's Daily, says Xi is expected to press President Donald Trump to stay out of China's way when it comes to Taiwan's independence. President Xi is going to press President Trump to potentially weaken language around Taiwan, an island that Beijing claims as its own. and also building on President Xi's very direct, if you remember back in May, a warning to President Trump that crossing China's red line on Taiwan could lead to a conflict.

2:42That's CNBC's Eunice Yun in Beijing. Americans are putting the hot new AI agent app on their phones. Facebook and Instagram parent Meta has made an app called Muse. Here's CNBC's Sarah Eisen with her take. I downloaded Muse. I will say in the early, you know, in my early experimentation, you have to give it a lot of permission to do things. Like, are you OK if we go through your calendar? Are you OK if we start booking things in your calendar? Are you OK if we start going through your emails and booking things in your calendar? And then are you OK if we start, you know, making purchases for you?

3:16And I think the Amazon warning that it doesn't want agents making purchases on its platform is something to think of. You know, there's safety concerns, right? What happens if an agent buys something that you haven't authorized it to buy? On Thursday's watch list, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife attend a state dinner at the White House, along with a who's who of tech executives. Earnings are coming from Costco. We find out how many people applied for unemployment benefits last week. We also get sales numbers for newly built homes. Jessica Edinger, CNBC. Hey, Fidelity. Can I get a second opinion on stocks in the Fidelity app?

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