What’s News in Markets: Intel’s Win, Darden’s Struggles, FedEx on Tariffs

0:00Hey, listeners. Your money briefing is on a break, but we'll be back with more personal finance information for you in the future. Until then, here's the news moving markets this week. Hey, listeners. It's Saturday, September 20th. I'm Jack Pitcher for The Wall Street Journal, and this is What's News in Markets, our look at the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Let's get to it. Stock investors cheered after the Federal Reserve delivered a long-awaited interest rate cut this week. The central bank cut its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point at the conclusion of its September meeting on Wednesday, and officials projected two more rate cuts by the end of this year.

0:41The cuts, which are coming after months of data showing a weakening labor market, are intended to stimulate the economy by making it cheaper tomorrow. All three major stock indexes hit records this week, but that doesn't mean all of Wall Street is confident about the economic outlook. Index gains have been juiced by a handful of trillion-dollar tech companies, and lower rates also tend to boost stocks by making bonds look comparatively less attractive. Traders will be closely watching labor market data the rest of the year to see whether job gains begin to accelerate again. Any prolonged downturn in the labor market is likely to impact consumer spending and the stock market.

1:20For the week, the S &P 500 added 1.2%, while the Dow was 1.1 % higher. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 2.2%. Intel notched a badly needed victory this week. On Thursday, the iconic US chipmaker announced that AI darling NVIDIA will be making a$5 billion investment in Intel as part of a new product partnership. The investment pairs NVIDIA, now the world's most valuable company, with Intel, which has struggled for years as it fell almost completely out of the AI conversation. The partnership comes a month after the U.S. government took a 10 % stake in Intel as part of an unusual turnaround effort backed by the Trump administration.

2:06Intel shares soared 23 % on Thursday, their best single-day performance since 1987. They also closed up 23 % for the week.

2:25Investors weren't happy with the latest quarterly results from Darden Restaurants, the owner of brands including Olive Garden and Yardhouse. But the results included encouraging news for their customers. Darden raised its full-year sales outlook, but cautioned that higher food and labor costs, coupled with the company's push to keep prices low, will hurt earnings in the near term. The restaurant operator is absorbing the costs instead of raising prices, and its chief financial officer told investors Thursday that keeping prices below total inflation has been Darden's biggest investment in recent years.

2:57Costs rose faster than anticipated in the most recent quarter, and adjusted earnings missed Wall Street's estimates. Darden shares fell 13 % for the week, their worst weekly performance in five years.

3:12FedEx is struggling to contend with tariffs. The shipping giant said U.S. tariffs are expected to add$1 billion to its costs during fiscal year 2026 in an earnings call Thursday. The company said demand for shipping from China to the U.S. continues to shrink, and it is reducing its capacity accordingly. Still, FedEx said U.S. customers appear resilient, and strong domestic shipping numbers helped it log higher sales and profit in the first quarter. FedEx shares rose 2.3 % Friday, but remained down 18 % for the year.

3:48And now you know what's news in markets this week. Today's show was produced by Zoe Kolkin and Rodney Davis with supervising producer Michael Cosmetes. I'm Jack Pitcher. Have a great weekend and see you next Saturday.