WSJ What’s News - What’s News in Markets: Meta’s Muse, Diesel Dilemma, Paramount's Breakthrough

Episode Date: September 26, 2026

What does Meta’s new AI agent mean for finance stocks? And how will the Trump administration’s plan to lower diesel prices impact oil companies? Plus, what did Paramount concede to get its $81 billion Warner Bros. takeover back on track? Host Imani Moise discusses the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Sign up for the WSJ's free Markets A.M. newsletter. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey listeners, it's Saturday, September 26. I'm Imani Moise for the Wall Street Journal. And this is what's news in markets. Our look at the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Let's dive in. The biggest action in markets this week was in bond yields. The benchmark 10-year yield climbed above 5% on Wednesday, its highest level, since 2007. That was also its biggest one-day jump in.

in more than a year. A combination of elevated oil prices, persistent inflation concerns, and fresh economic data showing strong business activity and job growth created a perfect storm in bond markets, leading investors to bet that interest rates may have to stay higher for longer, or even rise further. Overall, the NASDAQ climbed 2.1% for the week, while the SMP rose 1.2%, and the Dow finished 0.3% higher. Meanwhile, Brent crude futures increased 0.4% to settle above $104 a barrel. Technology stocks led the S&P 500 this week, thanks in large part to META. Shares of the Facebook parent surged 11% Monday and ended the week nearly 13% higher after its new AI agent, Muse,

shot to the top of Apple's app store after debuting earlier this month. The rally added $192 billion to META's market value in a single day. MUSE is essentially a personal AI assistant that can take actions for you, things like booking appointments and shopping online. Before this week's news, investors were questioning whether the billions the company was spending on AI would ever pay off. Now, one truest analyst estimates, Mews could generate an additional $28.5 billion for META by 2030. Muse's momentum helped lift the broader tech sector in an otherwise tepid stock market. Chipmakers' intel and AMD. each rose about 13%.

But Mewis is also creating potential losers. Financial stocks sold off. Investors were worried AI agents could eventually replace some services provided by wealth managers, brokerages, and insurers. Shares and brokerage firm Charles Schwab fell roughly 6%, and all state tumbled 8.9%. Oil stocks had a rough week. The SMP's energy sector fell 3% while the industry digested a new policy proposal.

from Washington. On Tuesday, President Trump said that his administration was considering restricting U.S. diesel exports in an effort to bring down record high prices at home. Diesel has gotten especially expensive because wars in Iran and Ukraine have knocked out refining capacity and disrupted global supplies. The idea sounds straightforward. Keep more American-made diesel in America and hopefully lower prices. But refiners say it could backfire. The U.S. produces more more fuel than it consumes, so companies sell a lot of that excess overseas. Analysts estimate that an export ban could force U.S. refiners to cut crude processing by more than 10%, potentially crushing refining margins.

This week shares for U.S.-based companies like Marathon Petroleum and Bolero, fell 7.6 and 6.4 percent, respectively. And Paramount moved one step closer this week to completing its $81 billion takeover of Warner Brothers' discovery. A dozen states led by California had sued to block the merger in July, arguing that combining two of Hollywood's biggest studios would reduce competition in movies and television. But the state settled their lawsuit with Paramount on Monday, removing the biggest remaining obstacle to the deal. The breakthrough came with a pricey concession, though. Paramount agreed to invest at least $1.5 billion more on U.S. film and television production over the next five years. It also pledged to release at least 30 movies a year and keep its studio lots in L.A.

Paramount had plenty of incentives to compromise. If the merger didn't close by October 1st, the company was set to start paying Warner shareholders about $7 million a day in what's called ticking fees. Paramount now expects the deal to close in about two weeks. Investors sent Warner Brothers shares 11% higher this week on the news, but Paramount shares fell 2.5%. And now you know what's news in markets this week. You can read about more stocks that moved on the week's news in our live markets coverage on WSJ.com. Today's show is produced by Anthony Bansy,

with Supervising Producer Melanie Roy. I'm Imani Mouise. Have a great weekend. And see you next Saturday.