This weekly market review covers the week of September 21 to 25, 2026, on US equity indices and the 10-year Treasury yield, then details the confirmed institutional agenda from September 28 to October 2, 2026. The figures cited come from published closing data and official calendars, without anticipating their outcome.
Equity indices advanced, except for small caps
The S&P 500 closed at 7,743.41 points on Friday, September 25, 2026, up 0.51% on the session alone and 1.21% for the full week of September 21 to 25. The Nasdaq Composite finished at 27,068.72 points, up 2.06% for the week, while the Dow Jones gained 0.28% to close at 51,828.62 points, according to the closing recap published by Portfolio Terminal.
The Russell 2000, which tracks small-cap companies, did not follow this trend: it fell 0.80% over the same week. Two defensive sectors also lost ground, with utilities (XLU) down 3.87% and real estate (XLRE) down 2.28%, per the same source. This sector divergence contrasts with the gains in major indices and illustrates a week where performance was not uniform across company size or interest-rate exposure.
The 10-year Treasury yield reached its highest level since July 2007
The US 10-year Treasury yield closed at 5.184% on September 25, 2026, compared with 4.998% a week earlier. This marks its highest close since July 6, 2007, according to the same Portfolio Terminal publication. This rise in bond yields is generally associated with a higher cost of financing for companies and borrowers, though it does not allow any conclusion about the direction of the move going forward.
This context of elevated long-term rates echoes recent coverage of the bond market, including the daily briefing from September 26, 2026, when the 10-year yield stood at 5.15%, and the daily briefing from September 27, 2026, which reported a yield of 5.17% by the end of the week.
The Reserve Bank of Australia announces its rate decision on September 29
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) monetary policy board meets on September 28 and 29, 2026, and will announce its rate decision on Tuesday, September 29, according to the official calendar published by the central bank on its institutional website. The RBA does not indicate a precise release time or any anticipated value for this decision, and this review does not offer one either.
This decision fits into an already packed central bank calendar this fall, following the rate decisions covered in the briefing on Norges Bank’s rate hike on September 25, 2026, and the recap of the three rate decisions from Norges Bank, Riksbank, and SNB on the same Thursday.
The US PCE index for August is due on September 30
The Bureau of Economic Analysis will release the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index for August 2026 on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, according to the BEA’s release calendar available on the institution’s website, which does not specify a precise release time. This index is closely watched because it is among the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauges. No consensus estimate or prior month’s figure is included here, given the absence of a corresponding release from the BEA at the time of writing.
The ISM manufacturing index and the September jobs report close out the week
The Institute for Supply Management will release its manufacturing ISM index covering September 2026 data on Thursday, October 1, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time, as stated in its most recent press release distributed via PR Newswire. That same release reports that the ISM manufacturing index stood at 54.6% for August 2026, the latest figure published to date.
On Friday, October 2, 2026, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the US employment situation report for September 2026 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time, according to the BLS’s official release schedule available on its website. This report typically includes the unemployment rate and nonfarm payroll figures, though this review does not anticipate the figures that will be announced.
What this review does not cover
- No market consensus or economist forecast is included for the RBA decision, the PCE index, the ISM manufacturing index, or the jobs report, given the absence of a corresponding official release at the time of writing.
- No scenario for how equity indices or the bond yield might react to these releases is offered: this text relates a confirmed calendar, not a market anticipation.
- Sector moves beyond utilities and real estate are not detailed, since the source used only covers those two sectors.
For traders following these macroeconomic events as part of a funded trading challenge at a prop firm, risk management around scheduled releases remains a separate concern from simply reading the calendar.