Top News Today: Stocks Mixed as Yields Test Multiyear Highs, Tech Rebounds

MARKET WRAPS

STOCKS: Stocks were mixed as renewed artificial-intelligence optimism was offset by inflation and Middle East war concerns.

TREASURYS: Treasury yields rose amid trepidation about the outlook for inflation and Federal Reserve policy.

FOREX: The U.S. dollar was more or less flat against rivals as traders positioned themselves for a series of rate increases.

COMMODITIES: Oil futures fell, but remained above the psychologically significant milestone of $100 a barrel as traders awaited updates on the status of Saudi Arabian exports.

HEADLINES

Warren Buffett Steps Down as Berkshire Hathaway Chairman

Warren Buffett stepped down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and

appointed his son Howard to succeed him, the final phase of a succession

plan that has brought the $1 trillion conglomerate into a new era.

Buffett, who had tipped Howard as Berkshire's next chairman years

earlier, announced the news Friday in a letter to investors. Buffett

ceded his role as CEO to Greg Abel in January. He said he would remain on

the board and serve as chairman emeritus.

Howard, known as Howie, will assume the chairman role effective

immediately. The company said Warren Buffett will "continue to offer his

valued judgment and perspective." Charlie Munger, Berkshire's longtime

vice chairman, died in 2023.

Hackers Used Anthropic's Claude to Break Into OpenAI

Two weeks after a swarm of AI agents broke out of containment at

OpenAI to hack the company Hugging Face, the ChatGPT maker learned about

another AI-powered intrusion-and this time it was the target.

Independent security researchers had used Anthropic's Claude software

to gain access to an OpenAI employee's ChatGPT account, giving them a way

to read and suggest changes to the company's private cache of software.

The team, who participated in an OpenAI bug-hunting program that

offers a safe harbor for researchers to attempt to break into corporate

systems, quickly reported their findings to the company. The team, to

which OpenAI paid a $6,500 bounty, disclosed their work for the first

time to The Wall Street Journal.

Joby Says it Completed First Fully Autonomous Flight Across the U.S.

Joby Aviation said an aircraft equipped with its technology has

completed the first fully autonomous flight across the U.S.

The aviation company said Friday the aircraft flew 3,199 miles with no

control inputs from its onboard safety pilot, including autonomous taxi,

takeoff, cruise and landing, which were supervised remotely.

The company said the flight offers a proof point in its vision of

integrating an autonomous system onto an already-certified airframe to

scale up autonomous air logistics.

Automakers Urge Trump Not to Allow Chinese Cars Into U.S. Ahead of Xi

Summit

A coalition of auto-industry groups urged President Trump to keep

Chinese cars out of the U.S. ahead of a meeting with leader Xi Jinping,

saying any entry by Chinese newcomers would undermine jobs and national

security.

In advance of Trump's state dinner next week with Xi, the

group-including the Alliance for Automotive Innovation and the National

Automobile Dealers Association-implored the president to "maintain

policies that keep the door firmly shut to Chinese automakers seeking to

sell, import or manufacture vehicles inside the U.S."

"Allowing them to open a domestic facility would provide a foothold in

the U.S. market at the expense of manufacturers operating here," the

coalition wrote in a letter sent Thursday to Trump.

Uber Ordered to Pay $40 Million in Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Uber has been ordered to pay $40 million to the parents of a

23-year-old woman who was hit and killed by another car on the freeway,

after her Uber driver allegedly pulled over and ordered her and her

friend to get out of the vehicle.

A California judge rejected Uber's argument that it only provides a

software platform to connect riders with independent drivers, holding

instead that Uber functions as a common carrier with a non-delegable duty

to protect its passengers, according to a release from law firm Panish,

Shea and Ravipudi.

Uber said it believes the arbitrator was wrong in holding the company

legally responsible for the event.

How Warsh Raised Rates Without Drawing Trump's Ire

President Trump spent months attacking the Federal Reserve for keeping

interest rates too high. On Wednesday, the central bank raised them, and

Trump said he was standing by the chairman he picked.

The mild response was the clearest sign yet that Fed Chairman Kevin

Warsh has, for now, reset a relationship in which the White House treated

the central bank as an adversary.

Rather than object, Trump cast himself as having waved the decision

through to spare Warsh the indignity of being outflanked by his committee

when he described a phone call he had with Warsh before Wednesday's

decision. "I said, 'You might as well vote with the board because it's

not going to matter,'" he said. Warsh has "a very tough board" that is

opposed to the White House, Trump said.

Failure of Clarity Act Turns Crypto Industry Focus to Federal Regulators

The Clarity Act's failure to progress through Congress leaves

regulation of the cryptocurrency industry to government agencies and

vulnerable to interpretation as administrations change, analysts said,

another potential stumbling block to wider adoption.

The legislation, which fell 11 votes short of passing a procedural

Senate vote Tuesday, was designed to establish the first comprehensive

regulatory framework for digital assets, eventually helping to widen

acceptance of crypto. The bill faced several challenges, including

disagreements over the language around ethics rules that would prevent

government officials from profiting off digital assets.

The Clarity Act was under negotiation for more than a year. In a sign

of the disappointment, bitcoin fell to a near four-week low after the

bill failed to pass.

California's Newsom Issues Executive Order to Weigh AI Oversight,

Including 'Kill Switch'

California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order ramping up the

state's oversight of artificial-intelligence systems and their safety and

security risks.

The Friday order would convene experts to mull possible AI-oversight

policies, including requirements for frontier AI labs to embed

independent evaluators, get independent verification of their safety

frameworks and reports and create a "kill switch" for cutting-edge

models.

California's Government Operations Agency would issue recommendations

about each proposal's technical feasibility and potential efficacy within

two months, according to the order.

TALKING POINT Who Is Howie Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway's New Chairman?

Warren Buffett said Friday he is stepping down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, naming his 71-year-old son Howard Buffett as the new chair.

The move to name Howard-who goes by Howie-has long been part of the succession planning at the $1 trillion conglomerate Warren Buffett has controlled since 1965.

Who is Howie Buffett? Here are five things to know:

In an interview for a 2025 Wall Street Journal article, Warren Buffett was unabashed about the rationale for picking Howie Buffett:

"He is getting it because he's my son," he said.

Warren Buffett put extensive thought into succession at Berkshire, saying "I care more about the future of Berkshire after I die than during the period I'm alive." Berkshire, he said, was the type of successful company "that takes a long time to build and could be torn apart very easily if it fell into the hands of people who would want to break it up."

--Eliot Brown, The Wall Street Journal

Expected Major Events for Monday 08:30/UK: 2Q Business Finance Review

08:30/UK: S&P Global UK Consumer Sentiment Index

10:00/UK: Aug Aluminium Production report

12:30/US: Aug Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI)

All times in GMT. Powered by Onclusive and Dow Jones.

Expected Earnings for Monday Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd (EOG.V) is expected to report for 1Q.

Ennis Inc (EBF) is expected to report for 2Q.

Espey Manufacturing & Electronics Corp (ESP) is expected to report $0.92 for 4Q.

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

September 18, 2026 16:46 ET (20:46 GMT)