Market Open: Stocks Fall, Oil and Yields Higher, Qantas Touts NYC-Sydney Flight • 9/23/26

0:00C-NBC Business News Update. I'm Jessica Ettinger. Wall Street is lower in late morning trading. Oil and bond yields are higher after hot purchasing managers indexes for both services and manufacturing. Here's C-NBC'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. We may be on pace for another one today, hovering right around that 502 level now after these data points came out. And if we consider the notion that the Fed certainly seems on a rate hike cycle, we have to pay very close attention to the red developing in the equity space.

0:42The Dow is down 96 points. McDonald's shares leading it lower. The S &P 500 index down 41 points. That's a half percent. The Nasdaq falling 285 points. That's 1 percent. Iran today saying President Trump's threats are a sign of strategic desperation. After the president's speech at the U.N. General Assembly yesterday, noting that he could call for total annihilation of Iran. Iran is floating some conditions now for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz as the Trump administration takes a look at whether a diesel export ban is feasible, according to Treasury Secretary Besant, to bring diesel prices at the pump down with midterm elections looming.

1:27Europe is closely watching the price of diesel in the U.S. and the idea of an export ban. Europe buys a lot of U.S. diesel fuel. Here's CNBC's Ben Boulos in London. Diesel at the pump for Americans. It's up at$6.52 a gallon of diesel today. And Donald Trump has now said he would back a ban on foreign exports of diesel as the war he and Israel started against Iran continues to push those fuel prices higher ahead of the midterm elections. This days after Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said an export ban wouldn't actually lower prices. And as diesel prices continue to notch records. AAA today says national average for a gallon of regular gas sitting at four dollars forty seven cents.

2:12The Trump-Xi summit this week puts AI safety talks on the table, but neither side really wants to back down. Anthropic, in fact, released a new AI model yesterday. Meantime, the message being sent by Beijing to the Chinese people is that President Xi will press President Trump to stay out of the Taiwan independence issue. The official People's Daily has said that the two should consider that Taiwan independence is a common enemy, it says, of both the U.S. and China. The expectations that President Xi is going to press President Trump to potentially weaken language around Taiwan, an island that Beijing claims as its own.

2:53And 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. That's CNBC's Eunice Yun in Beijing. Bankruptcy for Brightline. But the passenger rail line along the east coast of Florida is still running. Here's CNBC's Morgan Brennan. Florida private passenger railroad Brightline is reportedly in the final stages of restructuring some of its debts via a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing that could come as soon as this week. The filing would exclude Brightline's operating unit, which would allow it to keep running trains.

3:31Qantas will start selling tickets next year for its New York to Sydney nonstop flight. The Australian airline is planning to use new Airbus A350-1000 ULR jets. That's ultra long range. These jets have an extra fuel tank for the marathon flights. Jessica Ettinger, CNBC. Introducing Fidelity Trader Plus, the next generation of advanced trading from Fidelity. Customize your tools and charts and access them seamlessly across desktop, web, and mobile. For faster trades anywhere you go. Try the all-new Fidelity Trader Plus. Learn more about our most powerful trading platform yet at fidelity.com slash trader plus.

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