Investopedia Markets News (all except PF)

• Casey’s General Stores stock plunged Wednesday after the convenience store and gas station operator reported disappointing same-store sales growth.
• Casey’s earnings and revenue exceeded analysts’ forecasts for the quarter.

Casey’s General Stores stock is tumbling after a key sales metric disappointed.

Shares of Casey’s General Stores (CASY) were down nearly 15% in recent trading, making it the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500, on a day when broader markets declined. Yesterday, the convenience store and gas station operator reported same-store sales growth of 3.2% for the fiscal first quarter, below the 3.8% analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha were looking for.

CEO Darren Rebelez said the company faced a “volatile” fuel environment in the quarter, with same-store fuel sales falling by 0.3% when analysts had been expecting a slight gain.

William Blair analysts wrote after the report that they see the stock’s slump as “overblown.” Lackluster fuel and grocery sales are “likely exacerbating concerns around the health of the consumer,” they wrote, overshadowing otherwise strong results.

Casey’s said it earned $7.37 per share on $5.68 billion in revenue for its fiscal first quarter, topping analysts’ projections of $6.81 per share and $5.56 billion.

Even with Wednesday’s decline, Casey’s shares are still up more than 12% from the start of the year.

• Signet Jewelers’ stock surged 20% after reporting stronger-than-expected Q2 earnings and same-store sales growth.
• The company raised its full-year guidance for adjusted EPS, adjusted operating income, and adjusted EBITDA.
• Same-store sales grew 2.2% year-over-year in Q2, outperforming analysts’ expectations of 1.7% growth.

Signet Jewelers stock entered Wednesday slightly lower for the year. That didn’t last past the opening bell.

Shares of Signet (SIG) are surging 20% Wednesday morning after the Hamilton, Bermuda-based parent of Kay Jewelers, Jared, and Zales posted Q2 adjusted earnings of $2.19 per share, well above the $1.73 consensus of analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha. Revenue of $1.53 billion matched expectations.

Same-store sales growth of 2.2% easily topped the 1.7% consensus estimate, while adjusted operating income of $107.2 million surpassed the $89.6 million Visible Alpha projection. Adjusted EBITDA of $152.3 million beat the $131.9 million estimate.

“We delivered another quarter of comp sales growth with a positive comp performance in all fine jewelry brands,” Signet CEO J.K. Symancyk said.

As a result, Signet raised its full-year guidance for adjusted EPS, adjusted operating income, and adjusted EBITDA. It also lifted the low end of its same-store sales range to flat growth from a decline of 0.75%.

“We are entering the back half of the year well-positioned to deliver compelling value throughout the holiday season for customers across a broad range of income levels,” Symancyk added.

Signet shares were down less than 1% since the start of the year through Tuesday’s close.

News of the day for Sept. 9, 2026

Stock futures are pointing to a lower open Wednesday as the Iran war and inflation fears continue to weigh on market sentiment; Brent crude oil futures topped $100 a barrel this morning for the first time in nearly two months as fighting escalates in the Middle East; Apple is set to unveil new iPhones and other devices today in its first big event under its new CEO; Treasury yields are climbing ahead of this morning’s announcement of the size of tomorrow’s bond buyback; and shares of Casey’s General Stores are sliding after the company reported earnings. Here’s what you need to know today.

Stock futures are lower while oil prices are surging as investors track developments in the Middle East (more on that below). Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.6% recently, while futures tied to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq fell 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively. The major indexes closed lower yesterday to kick off the holiday-shortened trading week. WTI crude oil futures, the U.S. benchmark, were up 2.4% this morning at $95.30 per barrel, trading at their highest level since early June. Gold futures rose slightly to $4,450 an ounce, while bitcoin was trading at $79,300, up from yesterday’s low of $77,600. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects interest rates on consumer loans, was at 4.81%, up from 4.79% at yesterday’s close and trading around its highest levels in three years.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, are up nearly 3% this morning and trading above the $100 a barrel mark for the first time since mid-July. Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked energy facilities in Saudi Arabia yesterday, with Saudi forces reportedly launching retaliatory airstrikes at several sites in Yemen early this morning. The U.S. and Iran have recently traded strikes on oil carriers and U.S. military ships in the latest increase in fighting surrounding the Strait of Hormuz. Surging global oil prices will translate into higher prices at the pump and likely spur additional inflationary pressure in the U.S.

Apple (AAPL) is set to hold its annual launch event starting at 1 p.m. ET today, its first under new CEO John Ternus. The company is expected to announce the premium models of the iPhone 18 lineup, including the first foldable iPhone, along with new models of other hardware such as Apple’s watches and AirPods. Pricing details for the new products will be in focus after Apple raised prices for its laptops and iPads back in June to cope with soaring memory component costs, leaving many analysts to assume that the new line of iPhones will see a big jump in prices. Apple shares were down slightly ahead of the opening bell.

Treasury yields are rising this morning, sticking near their recent multi-year highs ahead of a big announcement today that could affect bond investors. At 11 a.m. ET, the Treasury is expected to announce the size of this week’s buyback of long-term bonds, after revealing a plan last month to increase buybacks to help ease yields. Recent buybacks have not exceeded $2 billion, and last month’s announcement said that they will be “at least $4 billion per operation” at least until its next quarterly update in early November. The buyback itself is set to take place tomorrow afternoon, but today’s announcement could have a significant impact on yields ahead of the buyback.

Shares of Casey’s General Stores (CASY) are tumbling this morning after the retailer and gas station operator’s same store sales fell short of expectations. After yesterday’s closing bell, Casey’s said it earned $7.37 per share on $5.68 billion in revenue for its fiscal first quarter, each topping the Visible Alpha analyst consensus. However, the chain’s same store sales rose by 3.2%, below the 3.8% that analysts were looking for. CEO Darren Rebelez said the company navigated a “volatile” fuel environment in the quarter, with same-store gallons down 0.3% year-over-year. Casey’s shares were down 11% in recent premarket trading, on track to hit their lowest level since February.

Episode 311 of the Investopedia Express Podcast With Caleb Silver (Sept. 8, 2026)

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Private capital has been transformed into a $40 trillion asset class by financial innovators from Michael Milken to Leon Black, and now underpins a wide swath of global industries. William D. Cohan, author of the newly released book “Money to Burn: The Unvarnished Truth About Leon Black, Apollo, and the Rise of a New Wall Street,” describes how we got here, and what dangerous roads private markets and creative financing might lead us down, given the immense leverage these firms use to securitize nearly every asset class. Plus, margin debt is spiking just in time for a seasonal stock market swoon. Look out below.

• Apple is expected to unveil new iPhones and other devices at the tech giant’s launch event Wednesday.
• John Ternus is set to host the annual event for the first time as CEO, after taking over for Tim Cook earlier this month.

Apple and its new CEO face a big test this week.

The consumer tech giant is set to unveil its latest products at its annual launch event tomorrow, with John Ternus hosting for the first time as CEO after taking over for Tim Cook earlier this month. The event, themed “surprise and shine,” is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. ET Wednesday. (You can stream it live here.)

Apple’s (AAPL) first foldable iPhone is widely expected to be part of the new lineup, along with premium models of the iPhone 18. Analysts at Morgan Stanley said they’ll be looking for new Apple watches and AirPods as well. A base model of the iPhone 18 might not be released until next spring, they told clients in a recent note.

Morgan Stanley said Apple could also test demand in the face of “what are likely to be the broadest, and most significant, like-for-like iPhone price hikes in company history.”

Wednesday’s event could represent the first major test for Apple under new CEO John Ternus, who took over the top job from Tim Cook at the start of the month.

Whether and how much Apple might raise prices for its iPhone lineup could be the biggest unknown heading into the event, according to analysts at JPMorgan, after Apple lifted prices across several products earlier this year. The analysts called it “the variable most likely to drive the reaction in shares.”

Apple’s product launches typically tend to be “sell the news” events, as details about the iPhone maker’s plans are often reported ahead of time. The shares fell 1.5% the day after last year’s reveal of the iPhone 17 and thinnest-ever iPhone Air.

Wall Street is somewhat divided on Apple’s stock ahead of Wednesday’s event, with the seven analysts tracked by Visible Alpha split between five “buy,” one neutral, and two “sell” ratings. Their mean price target of $324 would suggest less than 3% upside from Tuesday’s close.

The stock, which dropped about 1% to $316 Tuesday, has gained about 16% since the start of the year, though it’s pulled back from its July record in the wake of a disappointing forecast.

• Opinion polls show the public believes the job market will worsen in the coming year, with one measure of pessimism reaching its highest level since April 2020.
• Professional forecasters see the job market as stable, predicting the unemployment rate will only inch up.
• The disconnect is one of several ways in which the public is much more downbeat about the state of the economy than the hard data indicates.

Is the job market going to fall apart in the coming year? Experts and the public sharply disagree on the outlook.

Consumers are getting remarkably pessimistic about their job-finding prospects—44.4% of U.S. adults believe the unemployment rate will be higher a year from now, according to The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Survey of Consumer Expectations for August, published Tuesday. That’s the highest since April 2020, when the economy was being ravaged by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Experts, by contrast, see the job market as stable. A survey of professional forecasters by the Philadelphia Fed put the unemployment rate at 4.3% in 2027, just a touch above its current level and relatively low by historic standards. And in a July survey of economists by the Wall Street Journal, none of the 71 professionals predicted the unemployment rate would reach 5% by June 2027.

Either households are overestimating the likelihood of a deterioration in the job market in the coming months, or they see something in their own experiences that the hard data has missed.

The data was the latest pointing to a disconnect between expert and public opinion about the economy.

Hard data has shown the economy staying resilient against a series of shocks from tariffs and the Iran war’s high energy prices, while consumers have grown more downbeat about inflation, jobs, and personal finances (even though they’re still spending plenty of money).

The surveys are a snapshot of how the public feels about the “low-hire, low-fire” job market in which it’s getting harder to find a job if you don’t have one, or for employed people to switch jobs.

Are the grim public opinion polls a canary in the coal mine for a job market downturn? Fortunately for job-seekers, the public was wrong the last time it anticipated an unemployment wave.

Sentiment in the New York Fed survey was at the same level in October 2013. At that time, 7.2% of the workforce was unemployed. A year later, that rate had fallen to 5.8% as the recovery from the Great Recession gained momentum.

• Qualcomm shares climbed Tuesday after the chipmaker announced a new partnership with Amazon.
• The deal focuses on customized silicon and optical connectivity for AI data centers.

Qualcomm’s stock is getting a lift after the chipmaker announced a new partnership with Amazon.

Shares of Qualcomm (QCOM) were up about 3% Tuesday afternoon after the firm announced it was collaborating with Amazon (AMZN) on next-generation AI data center infrastructure.

Qualcomm said the deal with Amazon will “enable customized silicon at scale for large-scale AI data centers, working together on AI inference,” and that the firms “are working on optical connectivity solutions extending up to 1.6T and future-generation solutions.”

“As AI demand accelerates, data center infrastructure will require advances in both computing and connectivity to deliver greater performance with more efficiency,” Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said in a release.

With Tuesday’s gains, Qualcomm shares moved back into positive territory for the year. Amazon shares slipped less than 1% Tuesday afternoon, leaving them up about 11% in 2026.

• Corning shares surged Tuesday after the announcement of a multibillion-dollar optical fiber supply deal with Verizon.
• Verizon’s agreement includes over 80 million miles of high-density optical fiber from 2027 to 2032.

Corning shares are jumping after the company agreed to a lucrative supply agreement with Verizon Communications for high-density optical fiber. The news is lifting shares of other companies in the space, too.

Shares of Corning (GLW) were up nearly 9% in recent trading, among the leading gainers in the S&P 500. Shares of optical cable maker Lumentum (LITE) also climbed, along with Coherent (COHR) and Ciena (CIEN).

Verizon (VZ) said in a press release Tuesday that “to meet surging demand for consumer broadband and converged services alongside emerging AI needs,” the firms “reached a multi-billion dollar agreement for 80+ million miles of high-density optical fiber and connectivity solutions from 2027 to 2032.”

Mike O’Day, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Corning Optical Communications, said the deal “demonstrates that Gen AI and broadband expansion are part of the same transformative opportunity.”

Optical stocks have skyrocketed in recent months on growing AI demand, with Lumentum, Corning, Coherent, and Ciena up a respective 169%, 91%, 66%, and 49% in 2026.

• Over 1,000 new ETFs launched in the U.S. through August, a 52% increase from last year, according to FactSet.
• U.S. ETFs held $16.4 trillion in assets under management through Aug. 31, with $180 billion in fresh flows added last month.
• The consumer discretionary, materials, industrials and utilities sectors showed inflows in August.

The booming ETF industry is on track to post a record year of launches.

More than 1,000 new exchange-traded funds have listed in the U.S. through the end of August, about 52% higher than last year’s figure over the same period, according to FactSet. Collectively those funds held $16.4 trillion in assets under management through Aug. 31, with over $180 billion in fresh flows added just last month, the research platform’s data show.

Though new places for investors to park their cash continues to proliferate, monthly net fund flows have been on the wane as equity investors have appeared to seek relative safety in terms of sector exposure.

“Investors took a more defensive stance in August, as most S&P sectors experienced outflows, with Financials, Information Technology, and Energy recording the most outflows,” FactSet senior ETF analyst Lois Gregson wrote in a report published late last week. The consumer discretionary, materials, industrials, and utilities sectors showed inflows.

Newly launched funds didn’t exactly match that mood. Of the 134 new ETFs brought to market last month, about a quarter used leveraged or inverse strategies, according to FactSet. Also, 18 new single-stock funds were added, and most of them were for chipmakers, the data show. 

• Intel’s stock jumped Tuesday after a report the company plans to raise prices in October.
• Advanced Micro Devices and other chip stocks also climbed.

Intel’s stock is soaring on signs it could be set to raise prices. 

Shares of Intel (INTC) were up nearly 9% in recent trading after a report from Taiwan-based DIGITIMES that Intel could be set to hike CPU prices 10% in October. Intel was one of the biggest gainers in the S&P 500 at a time when broader markets lost ground. 

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Broadcom (AVGO), and other chip stocks also climbed, pushing the PHLX Semiconductor Sector index (SOX) up 2%. 

Intel has already lifted prices on its products more than once in recent months, amid strong demand and rising costs for memory components. Back in July, the chipmaker posted second-quarter results that topped analysts’ estimates, driven by booming AI demand.

The report from DIGITIMES also said Intel plans to launch major new products next March, with AMD seen following between June and July.

Intel did not respond to an Investopedia request for comment in time for publication.