US stocks closed mixed Wednesday on the final trading day of September, with…

US stocks closed mixed Wednesday on the final trading day of September, with the Dow falling 284.91 points (0.55%) to 51,065.01, while the S&P 500 gained about 0.2% to roughly 7,686 and the Nasdaq rose about 0.6%, with tech the lone bright spot. The Dow and S&P 500 ended September with monthly losses of 4.9% and 0.7% respectively, while the Nasdaq gained 1.7% for the month. The day's relief came from the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, the PCE price index, which showed August inflation cooling more than expected. New York Fed President John Williams added to the calmer mood, saying there's "no need for urgency" to raise rates at October's meeting, a comment that cut market odds of an October hike from over 70% to roughly a coin flip. Oil stabilized in the mid-$90s per barrel as the Iran war entered its seventh month. Separately, a leaked IPO prospectus from AI company Anthropic showed the firm targeting a roughly $2 trillion valuation, while devoting much of the document to AI-related risk disclosures. Investors were also awaiting after-the-bell earnings from memory-chip maker Micron.

Philippine shares fell for a third straight session Wednesday, closing out a rough September as the PSEi dropped 1.03% (58.92 points) to 5,679.48, its worst finish in over 10 months. The bigger story was a fresh inflation warning: the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Wednesday that September inflation could accelerate to as high as 7.4%, as bad weather pushed up food prices, fuel costs surged, and the peso weakened. Regina Capital's Luis Limlingan said sentiment stayed cautious following that warning, while Philstocks Financial noted that rising US Treasury yields also dragged on the local market. The peso weakened nearly 8 centavos to close at ₱62.64 per US dollar, its third straight day of losses. Conglomerates were the only sector to gain (+0.21%), while services suffered the steepest loss (-1.21%). Foreign investors were net sellers of ₱950.67 million, even as turnover stayed strong at ₱7.90 billion.

Wall Street got some relief Wednesday as the Fed's preferred inflation gauge came in cooler than expected and a top Fed official signaled no rush to hike rates again, but the Philippines is facing the opposite trend. On the very same day, the BSP warned that Philippine inflation could accelerate to as high as 7.4% in September, driven by bad weather pushing up food prices, surging fuel costs, and a weakening peso, which just logged its third straight day of losses. That divergence matters because it means Philippine policymakers can't count on the same easing pressure the Fed is currently enjoying; services, the most consumer-facing PSEi sector, took the steepest hit Wednesday (-1.21%) as investors priced in the squeeze on household spending power. Worth watching: whether the actual September inflation print, due soon, confirms the BSP's high-end 7.4% estimate, a reading anywhere near that would put more pressure on the BSP to keep tightening even as the Fed leans toward standing pat.