Interest Rates and Global Markets Amid U.S.-China Trade Tensions

Aired Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026 on 77 WABC 2:01 More with Terrett

Audio via Spreaker for 77 WABC

In this interview

John Terrett

WABC financial analyst John Terrett reviews a week dominated by the Federal Reserve’s quarter-point rate rise to a range of 3.75 to 4% and the Senate’s failure to pass the Clarity Act on cryptocurrency. He also looks ahead to UN Leaders’ Week, President Trump’s address and President Xi’s state visit to Washington.

Key takeaways

Terrett said the Fed raised rates 25 basis points; the Dow and S&P 500 fell about 1%.
He said the hike raises costs on credit cards, car loans and flexible-rate mortgages but lifts savings rates.
Terrett said the Bank of Japan raised rates to 1.25%, a 31-year high.
He said the Clarity Act failed in the Senate after Democrats reversed course; no return this year.
Trump addresses the UN General Assembly on Sept. 22; Xi arrives Sept. 23 for a state visit.

In their words

“But good news, if you’re a pensioner, if you’re 60 or 65, your savings rates just went up.”

— John Terrett, at

“To everyone’s surprise and disappointment, the Clarity Act that would have made America the center of the cryptocurrency world failed in the Senate.”

— John Terrett, at

Quotes are word for word from the automated transcript, uncorrected; the summary and takeaways are editorial.

Transcript

Automated transcript · uncorrected

Speaker 1 Well, let’s get an update from John Tarrick on what’s going on in the markets this week. John, good morning. Two stories dominated last week. The Fed rate hike on Wednesday, of course, pitting Kevin Walsh and President Trump together at loggerheads now. It was a 25 basis point hike. The range is 3.75% to 4%. The Dow fell about 1%

on the news. So did the S & P 500. Markets rallied strongly, though, on Thursday, but they were down for the week. Walsh says inflation’s too high. Trump says the rate should be 1%. or lower. We can’t go on carrying countries around the world, which we are at the moment. What does it all mean? Well, it means

credit cards, car loans, some mortgages, flexible rate loans, all costing a little bit more. But good news, if you’re a pensioner, if you’re 60 or 65, your savings rates just went up. So that should help you sleep a little bit easier at night. I noticed, John, on Friday, the Bank of Japan raised interest rates to a 31-year high.

Got to go back to 1995 to find them where they are now, at 1.25%. The crypto story of the week. To everyone’s surprise and disappointment, the Clarity Act that would have made America the center of the cryptocurrency world failed in the Senate. And it failed because the Democrats agreed to everything on Monday night. And by Tuesday lunchtime, they

changed their mind. It was basically an anti-Trump vote and his investments in cryptocurrency. That’s what that was all about. Almost certainly no time now before the end of the year to bring it back. Next week, the UN General Assembly gets underway. Leaders’ Week, the high debate week proper.

President Trump will address the Assembly at 9.30 on Tuesday morning. And on Wednesday, President Xi of China flies in for a state visit. President Trump is going to Joint Base Andrews to greet him. That’s a very high honour for President Xi. There’s a state dinner Thursday night. Jensen Huang of NVIDIA, Tim Cook of Apple will be there. There’ll

be talks with Scott Besant about trade. And Bloomberg is reporting that the US is going to withhold some of the tariff hikes it had in mind for China... Out of respect for the visit. All of that then next week. John.

Thank you so much, John Terrett. And let’s see what happens next week. It’s going to be an interesting one. Thank you, John. See you next Sunday.

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