Market snapshot · September 18, 2026 close
S&P 500 (SPY) $761.69 −0.13% Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) $721.45 +0.60% Dow (DIA) $515.88 −0.48% Russell 2000 (IWM) $284.10 −0.52% 10-Year Treasury (IEF) $90.80 −0.49% Crude Oil (USO) $153.82 −0.93% Gold (GLD) $401.17 +0.74% US Dollar Index (UUP) $28.39 −0.02% Volatility (VXX) $17.76 +0.31% Semiconductors (SMH) $573.00 +2.17% Silver (SLV) $59.93 +1.65% Emerging Markets (EEM) $67.03 +0.19% Bitcoin (BTC) $81,055.00 +4.51% Ethereum (ETH) $2,630.20 +5.92% S&P 500 (SPY) $761.69 −0.13% Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) $721.45 +0.60% Dow (DIA) $515.88 −0.48% Russell 2000 (IWM) $284.10 −0.52% 10-Year Treasury (IEF) $90.80 −0.49% Crude Oil (USO) $153.82 −0.93% Gold (GLD) $401.17 +0.74% US Dollar Index (UUP) $28.39 −0.02% Volatility (VXX) $17.76 +0.31% Semiconductors (SMH) $573.00 +2.17% Silver (SLV) $59.93 +1.65% Emerging Markets (EEM) $67.03 +0.19% Bitcoin (BTC) $81,055.00 +4.51% Ethereum (ETH) $2,630.20 +5.92%

September 2026 · Interim Note

The Book Gained $160.14 on Fed Day. SpaceX's $59.12 and Intel's $54.74 Did Most of the Work.

September 16, 2026 · Not a full monthly letter — a short check-in between them

Wide-angle view of a modern office atrium with glass railings and a staircase, lit by soft daylight
A rate hike day where the index fell and my book didn't — because two of my largest positions had a real, dated story of their own.

The book closed at $33,096.62 today, up $160.14 from yesterday's $32,936.48 — on the same session the Federal Reserve raised its target rate for the first time in three years, and the S&P 500 fell 0.44%. Today's News piece covers the actual driver: a reported SK Hynix–Intel manufacturing deal that had nothing to do with the Fed decision and sent Intel up 4.03%. SpaceX added $59.12 on my 8 shares, its own largest single-day dollar move in weeks, with no company-specific news I could find behind it. No trades.

+$160.14Net book impact, September 16 close vs. September 15
+$59.12SpaceX, the day's single largest gain
−$21.85SanDisk, the day's single largest drag
19 / 32Positions that closed higher

Where the +$160.14 actually came from

Figure 1 · Six largest gainers and six largest decliners, September 16

SpaceX and Intel led the book higher on unrelated stories; SanDisk and ServiceNow led it down

Six largest gainers

SPCX+5.15%
INTC+4.03%
CRWV+3.00%
WYFI+2.62%
VRT+2.05%
TLN+1.93%

Six largest decliners

NFLX−1.91%
NOW−1.47%
SCHD−1.43%
VST−0.81%
SNDK−0.71%
EL−0.68%

Percent moves, September 16, 2026 close vs. September 15 close. Bars are scaled independently within each group and do not reflect dollar impact — SanDisk's smaller-looking 0.71% decline cost $21.85 on 2 shares, more than NFLX's larger-looking 1.91% decline cost on 3 shares ($4.47). Source: Massive Market Data.

Four of my six largest dollar movers today have a real, dated explanation: Intel and (by partnership read-through) my CoreWeave and Vertiv positions moved on chip-and-power infrastructure demand tied to the reported SK Hynix talks, covered in full in today's News piece. SpaceX's $59.12 gain does not have one — it is a real, sourced price move on 8 shares with no company-specific news item I could find dated to today. I am not assigning it a cause.

Positions moving more than $10 · September 16, 2026 close
PositionCloseDayBook impactvs. my cost
Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX)$150.88+5.15%+$59.12+11.76%
Intel Corporation (INTC)$101.05+4.03%+$54.74+169.99%
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)$512.50+1.65%+$41.50+157.11%
Sandisk Corp (SNDK)$1,519.97−0.71%−$21.85+214.55%
Talen Energy Corp (TLN)$287.60+1.93%+$16.35−8.58%
Vertiv Holdings Co (VRT)$239.41+2.05%+$14.40−21.48%
Meta Platforms (META)$673.31+0.46%+$14.21+187.35%
ServiceNow Inc (NOW)$139.82−1.47%−$12.48+64.95%
CoreWeave Inc (CRWV)$83.35+3.00%+$12.15+0.49%
Estée Lauder Companies (EL)$95.60−0.68%−$11.70+38.31%
GraniteShares 2x Long NBIS (NBIL)$21.18+1.63%+$10.20+129.47%
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)$754.05−0.44%−$10.02+15.08%

Intel, and what a real price target does and doesn't tell me

SpaceX (SPCX) daily close vs. SPY, indexed, last 45 trading sessions through September 16, 2026. Source: Massive Market Data.

Intel rose 4.03% to $101.05, adding $54.74 on my 14 shares, on reports it is in talks to lease part of its Ohio manufacturing campus to SK Hynix for memory-chip production. Today's News piece has the full story and sourcing, including Melius Research's cited $165 price target and a figure as high as $200 within two years if the arrangement proceeds. My position is up 169.99% against a $37.43 average cost on 14 shares — already the largest percentage gain in the book before today's move, and the chart above is SpaceX rather than Intel precisely because Intel's own chart, with the same target-price arithmetic, is in today's News piece; I didn't want to repeat the same figure twice in one day's reading.

If Intel (14 shares, $1,414.70 at today's close) moves…Position valuevs. today
Unchanged$1,414.70
Yesterday's close, before this report ($97.14)$1,359.96−$54.74
Reaches Melius Research's cited $165 target$2,310.00+$895.30
Reaches Melius's cited two-year upside case ($200)$2,800.00+$1,385.30

Assumptions, stated plainly. The $1,414.70 position value and today's $54.74 gain are my own real figures at today's close, from Massive Market Data and my own share count. The $165 and $200 figures are attributed to Melius Research in the Motley Fool's September 16 coverage, cited in full in today's News piece — I have not read Melius's own note and cannot confirm the time horizon attached to either number precisely. Neither figure is this site's own price target, and the SK Hynix talks remain reported and unconfirmed by either company.

No trades today

The Blackout Rule and Holding Period exist for exactly this kind of session: a real, dated rally in one large position, a real, unexplained rally in another, and a Fed decision that moved the index more than it moved my book. None of that is new information about any position's underlying business. I made no trades.

Sources cited in full on the linked News article, including Melius Research's price target as reported by The Motley Fool on September 16, 2026. Prices via Massive Market Data; dollar impacts computed from my own share counts. This note is educational and reflects my personal views only. It is not investment advice.