{"id":53302,"date":"2025-09-18T16:39:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T20:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wall-street-soars-on-fed-cuts-and-tech-boost-fedex-exceeds-estimates-geopolitical-tensions-rise\/53302\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T16:39:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T20:39:09","slug":"wall-street-soars-on-fed-cuts-and-tech-boost-fedex-exceeds-estimates-geopolitical-tensions-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wall-street-soars-on-fed-cuts-and-tech-boost-fedex-exceeds-estimates-geopolitical-tensions-rise\/53302\/","title":{"rendered":"Wall Street Soars on Fed Cuts and Tech Boost, FedEx Exceeds Estimates, Geopolitical Tensions Rise"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Wall Street&#39;s major indexes surged to fresh record highs<\/strong>, propelled by a <em>Federal Reserve interest rate cut<\/em> and a significant <strong>$5 billion investment by Nvidia (<a href=\"\/stock\/NVDA\">NVDA<\/a>) in Intel (<a href=\"\/stock\/INTC\">INTC<\/a>)<\/strong>, which sent Intel shares soaring over 23%.<\/li>\n<li><strong>FedEx (<a href=\"\/stock\/FDX\">FDX<\/a>) delivered a strong first-quarter performance<\/strong>, handily beating analyst expectations with <strong>adjusted earnings per share of $3.83<\/strong> and <strong>revenue of $22.2 billion<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>U.S. long-term capital inflows saw a notable decrease in July<\/strong>, with <strong>net long-term Treasury International Capital (TIC) flows at $49.2 billion<\/strong>, down from $150.8 billion last year, although <em>overall foreign holdings of U.S. Treasuries reached a record high of $8.339 trillion<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Former President Trump announced efforts to regain control of Afghanistan\u2019s Bagram Air Base<\/strong>, emphasizing its <em>strategic importance due to its proximity to China&#39;s nuclear facilities<\/em> and criticizing the 2021 U.S. withdrawal.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Microsoft (<a href=\"\/stock\/MSFT\">MSFT<\/a>) significantly expanded its investment in Wisconsin<\/strong>, committing an additional <strong>$4 billion<\/strong> for a second AI data center, bringing its total spending in the state to <strong>over $7 billion<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Wall Street rallied to new record highs on Thursday, driven by the Federal Reserve&#39;s decision to implement a quarter-point interest rate cut, with indications of further reductions in upcoming policy meetings. The <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/indices\/sp500\/today\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"snp500 today\">S&amp;P 500<\/a>, Nasdaq, and small-cap Russell 2000 index all reached unprecedented levels, as investors embraced a risk-on sentiment fueled by expectations of a lower interest-rate environment. Technology stocks were at the forefront of the gains, notably boosted by <strong>Nvidia&#39;s (<a href=\"\/stock\/NVDA\">NVDA<\/a>) announcement of a $5 billion investment in chipmaker Intel (<a href=\"\/stock\/INTC\">INTC<\/a>)<\/strong>, which sent Intel shares skyrocketing by 23.1% to 24.6% in their biggest daily gain since 1987. Despite the market euphoria, <em>analysts cautioned about high valuations and the market&#39;s increasing reliance on Big Tech companies<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>In corporate news, <strong>FedEx (<a href=\"\/stock\/FDX\">FDX<\/a>) reported a robust first quarter for fiscal year 2025<\/strong>, surpassing analyst estimates across key metrics. The logistics giant posted <strong>adjusted earnings per share of $3.83<\/strong>, exceeding the estimated $3.59, on <strong>revenue of $22.2 billion<\/strong>, which also beat predictions of $21.67 billion. The company&#39;s adjusted operating income reached <strong>$1.30 billion<\/strong>, higher than the expected $1.21 billion, signaling a strong start to the fiscal year.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, <strong>U.S. Treasury International Capital (TIC) data for July revealed a significant decline in net long-term capital inflows<\/strong>, totaling <strong>$49.2 billion<\/strong>, a sharp drop from $150.8 billion recorded in the same period last year. Total net TIC flows for the month stood at <strong>$2.1 billion<\/strong>, down from $77.8 billion previously. Despite this monthly dip in new purchases, <em>overseas investors increased their overall holdings of U.S. Treasuries to a record high of $8.339 trillion in July<\/em>, up from $8.211 trillion in June. Japan maintained its position as the largest foreign holder, while China reduced its holdings.<\/p>\n<p>In geopolitical developments, former President Donald Trump stated that the <strong>U.S. is actively working to regain control of Afghanistan\u2019s Bagram Air Base<\/strong> from the Taliban. Trump underscored the base&#39;s critical strategic value, particularly its <em>proximity to China&#39;s nuclear facilities<\/em>, which he claimed are &quot;an hour away.&quot; He also reiterated his criticism of the Biden administration&#39;s 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, labeling it a &quot;total disaster&quot; that surrendered a vital asset. Afghan authorities, however, have denied claims that China controls the base.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere in technology, <strong>Microsoft (<a href=\"\/stock\/MSFT\">MSFT<\/a>) announced a substantial expansion of its data center investments in Wisconsin<\/strong>, committing an additional <strong>$4 billion<\/strong> to build a second artificial intelligence data center in Racine County. This new commitment brings Microsoft&#39;s total investment in the state to <strong>over $7 billion<\/strong>, with plans for the expanded campus to eventually house the <em>world&#39;s most powerful AI supercomputer<\/em>, utilizing hundreds of thousands of <strong>Nvidia (<a href=\"\/stock\/NVDA\">NVDA<\/a>) GPUs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>In media and politics, <strong>House Democrats called for the resignation of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr<\/strong>, accusing him of &quot;corrupt abuse of power.&quot; The demand followed allegations that Carr pressured <strong>Walt Disney Co.&#39;s (<a href=\"\/stock\/DIS\">DIS<\/a>) ABC network<\/strong> to indefinitely suspend Jimmy Kimmel&#39;s late-night show after the host made controversial comments. Democrats claim Carr threatened regulatory action against ABC and Disney, which holds FCC licenses.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, the <strong>Associated Press (AP) is reportedly ahead of schedule on its $100 million fundraising goal for the AP Fund for Journalism<\/strong>, an initiative dedicated to supporting local news reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Wall Street&#39;s major indexes surged to fresh record highs, propelled by a Federal Reserve interest rate cut and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[31,5467,33,5657,99,5694,633,6634,809,6917,1032,7906,1807,8952,3702,8953,4359,9691,4824,11005],"class_list":["post-53302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-intc","tag-data-centers","tag-msft","tag-microsoft","tag-wall-street","tag-fcc","tag-nvda","tag-intel","tag-dis","tag-fedex","tag-fdx","tag-disney","tag-earnings","tag-tic-flows","tag-nvidia","tag-tic","tag-fed-rate-cuts","tag-afghanistan","tag-geopolitics","tag-ap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}