Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's first post-meeting press conference rattled risk assets, with the Dow dropping about 500 points and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each falling more than 1%. The 2-year Treasury yield spiked roughly 15 basis points as Warsh signaled a higher-for-longer stance, while the VIX jumped 12.4% to 18.44. Warren Pies of 3Fourteen Research argued on CNBC that bull markets are usually murdered by the central bank, but he believes projected S&P 500 earnings growth in the 20-something percent range for 2026 and 10% forward sales growth protect the bull market unless the Fed pivots from pausing rates to actively hiking them. Pies noted that 2018 was the only year when 20% earnings growth failed to produce double-digit market returns, and that was when the Fed was tightening. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust closed at $740.96, still up 8.66% year to date, while the Invesco QQQ Trust closed at $722.51, up 17.61% year to date.
NVIDIA CorporationFed Chair Warsh's hawkish higher-for-longer stance rattled risk assets, dragging down the broader market including NVIDIA.