Business & Markets — September 20, 2026

Warsh comments stoke rate-hike questions. After the Fed’s first rate hike since 2023, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s language left investors uncertain whether a full hiking cycle is coming, pressuring stocks and bond yields.

The move marks the central bank’s first tightening action in roughly three years, and CNBC reported that just three words in Warsh’s remarks set off the guessing game on Wall Street. With no clear signal on whether additional increases will follow, traders are left to parse the chairman’s phrasing for clues, and the resulting uncertainty weighed on both equity prices and the bond market.

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FCC clears Paramount stake sale. The FCC approved Paramount’s sale of a 49.5% equity stake to investors from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, rejecting concerns about foreign government influence over the CBS parent.

Critics had argued that allowing sovereign-linked investors from the three Gulf states to hold nearly half of Paramount’s equity could give repressive governments leverage over a major American media company, according to Ars Technica. The commission dismissed those objections in granting its approval, clearing the way for the transaction to proceed and giving the Gulf investors a substantial ownership position just below majority control of the CBS parent.

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Forbes 400 reaches record $8 trillion. The 2026 Forbes 400 are collectively worth a record $8 trillion, up from $6.6 trillion a year ago; the entry threshold now stands at $4.4 billion.

The combined fortune of America’s wealthiest people jumped about $1.4 trillion in a single year, according to Forbes, underscoring how quickly wealth at the top has accumulated. The rising bar for inclusion means billionaires worth less than $4.4 billion no longer qualify for the ranking, a cutoff that itself reflects the broader surge in asset values among the country’s richest individuals.

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Buffett hands Berkshire chairmanship to son. Warren Buffett formally stepped down as Berkshire Hathaway’s chairman, passing the role to son Howard in a long-planned succession designed to preserve the company’s culture.

The transfer represents the definitive step in a transition Buffett has telegraphed for decades, according to CNBC. Rather than an operational shake-up, the arrangement is intended as a safeguard: Howard Buffett’s role as chairman is meant to keep the conglomerate from drifting away from the principles his father built it on, ensuring continuity of governance even as leadership formally changes hands after years of careful planning.

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