Stock Market Today (Sept. 17, 2026): Dow surges after Fed rate hike decision

Stock Market Today (Sept. 17, 2026): Dow surges after Fed rate hike decision

Thu, September 17, 2026 at 4:45 PM GMT+3 2 min read

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Happy Thursday. Stocks were mixed Thursday after a sell-off sparked by the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates.

The Fed boosted its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point to a target range of 3.75%-4% — its first rate increase since July 2023. The decision was unanimous.

But the bigger message for investors was that the central bank may not be finished raising rates. The Fed's latest projections point to another quarter-point increase this year.

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said, "the plain fact is that inflation is too high and has been for too long."

"The Federal Reserve delivered the expected 25bp hike, taking the fed funds range to 3.75–4.00%, but the more important message was that policymakers do not believe the tightening cycle is finished," said Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com.

"The decision was unanimous and the new projections show 16 of 18 officials expecting at least one further hike this year."

Hathorn noted that Warsh reinforced that message by stressing that inflation remains too high and that the Fed wants to prevent the energy shock from generating second- and third-round effects, even while acknowledging it cannot directly influence oil prices.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he still has confidence in Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, CNBC reported, but also said he wants the central bank to slash interest rates to 1% "or less."

Warsh, who was nominated by Trump as Fed chair, defended Wednesday's widely expected rate increase of 25 basis points as appropriate.

"I'm relying on Kevin, but he's got, you know, a very tough board, he's got a board that was put there by other people," Trump said. "And I told, I talked to Kevin, and I said, 'You might as well vote with the board. It's not going to matter.'"

Stocks finished lower on Wednesday following the Fed decision.

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Sep 17, 2026, where it first appeared in the Stock Market Today section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.