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WTI drops 6% below $100 into a triple-witching Friday

Friday, September 18, 2026: West Texas Intermediate was at $95.79 a barrel, down 6.0%. The Bank of Japan raised its policy rate to 1.25%.

An aerial view of the Tokyo skyline at twilight with glowing city lights.
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· 4 min read · ETF.net Research

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Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said Friday it had struck a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate still dropped 6.0% overnight to $95.79 a barrel as of 6:57 a.m. Eastern, $6.12 below Thursday's close and back under $100. Brent, the international grade, was at $102.73 a barrel, down 2.0%, at the same stamp. Crude had sat above $100 through Wednesday's Federal Reserve meeting, when the Fed lifted its target range to 3.75% to 4.00% in a 12-0 vote under Chairman Kevin Warsh, the first increase since 2023.

Reuters reported that oil prices fell as concerns over Saudi supply disruptions eased. Saudi Arabia is working to restore about half the capacity of its East-West pipeline within days and is moving crude through the Strait of Hormuz on shuttle vessels that load tankers waiting outside. China, after an appeal from Riyadh, urged Iran to restrain Houthi attacks on Saudi energy facilities.

U.S. equity funds were the test of whether the market agrees. The S&P 500 fund SPY was little changed in extended trading as of 6:57 a.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq-100 fund QQQ was 0.5% higher in extended trading. The energy-sector fund XLE was down 1.0% in extended trading. The CBOE Volatility Index printed 15.26 as of 6:42 a.m. The oil drop is the morning's largest fact, and the stock market, so far, is treating it as a commodity event rather than a growth scare.

Japan hikes to 1.25% and the yen still falls

The Bank of Japan raised its uncollateralized overnight call rate to around 1.25%, a 31-year high, in a 7-2 vote. Toichiro Asada and Ayano Sato dissented. The increase had been widely expected. The yen weakened anyway: a hike that does not lift the currency leaves the next-move debate open, and it leaves unhedged Japan holdings exposed to the exchange rate rather than to the policy rate.

The Nikkei 225 closed at 65,018.95, up 1.4%. Gold traded at $4,419 an ounce, up 0.4% as of 6:47 a.m. Eastern, after a 1.7% gain Thursday in the gold fund GLD. The dollar index was little changed at 100.17.

Chips did Thursday's work

The S&P 500 closed at 7,637.76, up 1.14%, still 2.3% below its 52-week high. The Nasdaq-100 rose 1.73%. For the funds that track them, SPY and QQQ, those were the largest absolute one-day moves in 30 sessions. The Dow added 0.6% and the Russell 2000 0.6%. It was a broad fund session on top of a concentrated index session: 4,531 of 5,461 U.S.-listed ETFs closed higher, while NVIDIA, Apple, Micron and Microsoft accounted for the first half-point of the S&P 500 fund's gain.

Technology led the sector board, with the technology fund XLK up 2.2%.

Select sector funds, Thursday, September 17, 2026

Technology led; financials and communications were the only declines

  • technology+2.2%
  • consumer discretionary+1.1%
  • utilities+0.9%
  • energy+0.7%
  • materials+0.7%
  • health care+0.6%
  • real estate+0.3%
  • consumer staples+0.2%
  • industrials+0.2%
  • financials−0.09%
  • communications−0.6%

Nine of eleven sector funds closed higher.

Micron, AMD, NVIDIA and Intel did the lifting in the Nasdaq-100. Financials, down for a fourth session, and communications, down for a third, did not join. Long Treasurys rallied. The 10-year yield fell 7 basis points to 4.94% on the official curve, the 2-year 7 basis points to 4.67%, and the 30-year 6 basis points to 5.29%. The long-Treasury fund TLT gained 1.1%. That is the bond market already taking some of the hike back.

Industrial production, then a mechanical close

The Federal Reserve's G.17 industrial production report, the monthly reading of factory, mine and utility output, is due at 9:15 a.m. Eastern. The consensus for August is a 0.3% increase from July, when production rose 0.2% and stood 1.1% above a year earlier. A surprise would have to be large to rewrite the rate path the Fed penciled in on Wednesday. Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman speaks on stress testing in London at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes August state employment at 10:00 a.m.

Friday is triple witching: stock options, index options and index futures expire together. Citadel Securities, using open interest as of August 27, put the day's expirations at $6.2 trillion of notional, about 23% of U.S. options exposure, a preliminary figure then tracking toward June's $7.7 trillion record. Index funds that track the S&P 500 also have to trade this close. Before Monday's open the index adds Bloom Energy, Illumina and Everpure and removes Molson Coors, Trade Desk and Builders FirstSource. The last hour belongs to that notional and to three stocks entering the S&P 500.

Frequently asked

Why did oil fall if Iran says it struck a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz?

Prices fell because worries about Saudi supply eased, with Saudi Arabia working to restore about half its East-West pipeline capacity and shuttling crude through the strait to tankers waiting outside.

Are stocks treating the oil drop as a growth scare?

So far no: S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 funds were flat to slightly higher in extended trading and volatility printed 15.26, while the energy-sector fund was down 1%.

What did the Bank of Japan do, and what happened to the yen?

The BOJ raised its policy rate to around 1.25%, a 31-year high, in a 7-2 vote, and the yen weakened anyway.

What makes Friday's close unusual?

It is triple witching, with stock options, index options and index futures expiring together, and index funds also have to trade the S&P 500's addition of three stocks before Monday's open.