June 18, 2026 11:04 AM EDT
Kevin Warsh Declines Forward Guidance, Yet His Inflation Stance Sent a Clear Signal
FROM 1 hr 10 min ago
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is making one thing quite clear: the central bank will bring inflation back to 2%.
It may not happen right away, as energy disruptions caused by the war in Iran push prices higher, bringing inflation to 4%. Nor will markets get clear clues from the Fed along the way, as Warsh cuts back on “forward guidance” that gives a sense of the policy committee’s next moves.
But after years of “persistently high prices” burdening U.S. households, Warsh said at his first press conference that “recent past need not be prologue” and promised to “deliver” on a return to the Fed’s 2% inflation target.
“I’ve said for years: Inflation is a choice. You bet it is,” Warsh told reporters. “And today, I’m announcing that this committee unambiguously and unanimously … decided we are going to deliver on that.”
It is a word he hammered home through repetition: “The commitment to deliver is strong, unanimous and unambiguous,” he told one reporter. “When we deliver on our price stability objectives, which we will,” he told another. And it made its way into the Fed’s far-slimmer statement: “The Committee will deliver price stability.”
Bond markets seem to have gotten the message, at least in their early read of the Warsh-led Fed. The 2-year U.S. Treasury yield, a proxy of markets’ views of Fed policy for the next two years, rose to 4.20% on Wednesday from 4.05% a day earlier as more investors saw a hike ahead. It retreated slightly to 4.16% on Thursday.
“After today’s meeting, we see a much higher risk that the Fed will hike this year,” wrote Aditya Bhave, U.S. economist at Bank of America, who still sees the Fed staying on hold.
Bond investors tend to worry that inflation will eat away at the fixed interest payments they get when they buy a bond. But Warsh’s first Fed meeting was “clearly hawkish,” Bhave wrote, given his emphasis on inflation and a shift among the Fed’s 18 other policymakers.
Ahead of the Fed meeting, there was lingering concern from some investors that Warsh “would bend to political pressure” and be sympathetic to President Donald Trump’s call for lower rates, according to Natalia Lojevsky, managing director at CIFC Asset Management. It was an issue that sparked Trump’s legal battle with Warsh’s predecessor Jerome Powell.
Instead, Warsh “came in swinging on the 2% target and used his first press conference to re-establish Fed credibility and independence,” Lojevsky said in emailed commentary.
Markets were “relatively calm, all things considered,” even as Warsh laid out a series of changes in the Fed’s policymaking style, wrote Ian Lyngen, head of U.S. rates strategy at BMO Capital Markets.
“If nothing else, the market has renewed confidence in the Fed’s inflation-fighting ability and conviction,” Lyngen said.
Click here for more key takeaways from Wednesday’s Fed meeting.
June 18, 2026 10:15 AM EDT
Accenture Shares Tumble on Mixed Results, Cybersecurity Acquisitions
FROM 2 hours ago
Shares of Accenture (ACN) tumbled on Thursday after the consultancy reported mixed quarterly results and announced plans to acquire three cybersecurity firms.
Accenture reported fiscal third-quarter earnings of $3.80 per diluted share, a 9% year-over-year increase and more than Wall Street had forecast. Revenue, however, missed estimates at $18.7 billion. The company also narrowed its full-year revenue growth forecast range. It now expects sales to grow between 3% and 4% this fiscal year, down from last quarter’s range of 3% to 5%.
Accenture also announced the acquisition of three cybersecurity firms. It agreed to take a majority stake in Dragos, and acquire runZero and NetRise outright. Accenture CEO Julie Sweet said the acquisitions would expand Accenture’s addressable market and create “a new platform-led growth opportunity.”
Accenture shares have been hit hard by worries that increasingly capable AI agents will disrupt the software and professional services industries. The stock fell more than 40% between the start of the year and yesterday’s close. Shares were down more than 16% in recent trading, pushing their year-to-date losses to over 50%.
Morgan Stanley analysts on Tuesday downgraded Accenture stock to equal-weight and lowered their price target to $177 from $240. The analysts said their overweight rating was premised on the assumption that corporate AI spending would moderate this year as enterprises pulled the plug on unsuccessful pilot projects, freeing up money within IT budgets for services providers like Accenture. That scenario has not played out.
While Morgan Stanley likes that Accenture is leaning into acquisitions to “strengthen its technical offerings and stay at the leading edge of emerging technologies,” not everyone is sold. Some investors are concerned that Accenture’s “increasingly product-focused acquisitions carry less visible revenue contribution than its historical legacy services deals,” the analysts wrote. They also worry about the high premiums Accenture is likely paying for AI properties despite uncertain benefits.
June 18, 2026 09:20 AM EDT
Trump Says Apple and Intel Are Working Together. Intel’s Stock Is Rising On the News
FROM 2 hr 55 min ago
Intel stock is getting a Trump bump today.
Shares of the U.S. chipmaker were climbing early Thursday, rising 8% in premarket action, after President Donald Trump overnight on Truth Social said Apple (AAPL) “has agreed to work with Intel to design and build its Chips in America.”
Reports that Intel (INTC) might make chips for Apple have been making the rounds for months, supporting some investors’ optimism about Intel shares, and Trump’s statements offered the latest reason to believe an announcement might be on its way. Intel said it had no comment on Trump’s message, and Apple did not reply to Investopedia’s request for comment in time for publication.
Trump in August called for the resignation of Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, but more recently—and, notably, after the U.S. announced a stake in the company later that same month—he’s been more like a booster.
That, improved business performance and optimism that the company’s unit that makes chips for other firms might see its prospects improve, has helped drive the stock up more than 450% over the past 12 months. In April, the shares topped record-high levels that had stood since 2000, and while they’ve pulled back somewhat, those prices remain in view—particularly if today’s premarket move holds.
Wall Street analysts have expressed some skepticism that the climb’s torrid pace need continue in the near term. The Street’s mean price target, at around $110 based on current targets compiled by Visible Alpha, is below yesterday’s close near $121.
June 18, 2026 08:24 AM EDT
Stock Futures Rise To End Short Trading Week
FROM 3 hr 51 min ago
Futures contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up about 0.2% in premarket trading.
S&P 500 futures advanced 0.7%.
Nasdaq 100 contracts jumped about 1.4%.