Wall Street ends sharply higher as Waller remarks ease rate hike fears

Wall Street ends sharply higher as Waller remarks ease rate hike fears

By Stephen Culp and Niket Nishant

Thu September 3, 2026  

It appears that Fed official Waller must have made his comments concerning keeping rates steady this month right around 10:30 a.m. which triggered an enormous jump in all three indexes until 11:30 a.m. at which point they remained steady for the remainder of the session. Waller’s comments really should not have moved the needle at all since all he really said was that IF the coming data shows inflation on the decline, THEN he would vote to keep rates steady, which of course has been his position and that of the entire Fed all along. It was not news and certainly no commitment to hold rates steady.

Yet, in this very nervous market, any hint of good news is enough to trigger a strong reaction and that’s what happened. It was enough to bring September rate hike odds from 63.2% yesterday to 50.4% today. Economic data was mostly positive showing lower jobless claims and higher services activity. On the minus side, services prices hit their highest levels in four years. The August employment report is out on Friday and is expected to show 56,000 new jobs. That’ll be an important metric on inflation. Volume at 15.25 billion was slightly above the 15.09 average. 

DJ: 53,061.95  +295.07        NAS: 26,217.83  +118.05        S&P: 7,666.60  +35.13         9/2

DJ: 53,686.11  +624.16        NAS: 26,584.06  +366.23        S&P: 7,747.71  +81.11         9/3

Thu 9-3-26 4:45 pm Wall Street ends sharply higher as Waller remarks ease rate hike fears | Reuters