Market overview

For the second quarter, commodity returns were -8.08%, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Total Return Index, the benchmark.

Within commodities, the worst-performing sector was precious metals, which declined 15.67% over the period, driven by significant weakness

Wordle players faced puzzle number 1,915 on Wednesday, a five-letter word built around a theme of delicacy and lightness that offered several accessible entry points for solvers willing to lean into descriptive, atmospheric vocabulary.

For those still working through the puzzle, several hints circulated Wednesday to help point solvers toward the answer without giving it away outright. The word describes something delicate, light and lacking in thickness or density. It is commonly used to describe smoke, hair, clouds or other wispy-looking things, and can suggest something thin and barely substantial, evoking the image of a light breeze moving strands of hair or a thin trail of smoke. Structurally, the word functions as an adjective, contains one vowel and four consonants, includes no repeated letters, and begins with the letter W.

SPOILER WARNING: Today’s Wordle answer follows below. Stop reading now if you’d rather solve the puzzle without assistance.

The answer to Wordle #1,915 for September 16 is WISPY, an adjective describing something thin, delicate or barely substantial, most often applied to smoke, hair, clouds or other light, fine-textured things that seem to drift or float rather than hold a solid form.

Puzzle guides covering Wednesday’s word noted that its relative rarity as an everyday adjective, combined with its uncommon letter combination, made it a moderately challenging solve despite the accessibility of the hints pointing toward its general meaning. Strategy guides published alongside the day’s clues cautioned solvers against assuming Wordle answers never repeat letters, noting that words like SHEEP or BLOOM have appeared as past answers and that repeated letters remain a regular feature of the puzzle’s five-letter solution pool, even though Wednesday’s specific answer did not include any repeated letters itself.

Guides also offered broader strategic advice relevant to Wednesday’s puzzle and beyond, recommending that solvers lean on consonant-vowel-consonant-consonant-vowel frameworks, using opening guesses like CRATE, PLANT or SHARE, to maximize the number of common letters tested early in a puzzle. Common five-letter word endings such as -ER, -LY, -TY, -LE and -CK were also flagged as useful patterns to consider once a solver has narrowed down several confirmed letters but remains uncertain about the final letter or two of the word.

Wednesday’s puzzle continued a run of daily words that has kept Wordle’s global player base engaged more than four years after the game first became a viral sensation. The puzzle, now owned and published by The New York Times, releases a new five-letter target word to players worldwide at midnight local time each day, giving solvers six total attempts to identify the correct word, with the game’s now-familiar color-coded feedback system, green for letters in the correct position, yellow for correct letters placed incorrectly, and gray for letters absent from the word entirely, guiding players toward the solution with each subsequent guess.

Puzzle number 1,915 followed Tuesday’s answer, DEALT, continuing a stretch of daily words that trackers use to help players identify broader patterns in how frequently the game’s word selection alternates between everyday, high-frequency vocabulary and more specific or evocative terms like Wednesday’s answer. Players tracking their personal statistics through Wordle’s built-in results screen, or through the game’s companion analytical tool, Wordlebot, can compare how efficiently they solved Wednesday’s puzzle relative to the broader player base.

For solvers looking for an added challenge, Wordle continues to offer a “Hard Mode” setting, which requires players to reuse any previously revealed correct or partially correct letters in all subsequent guesses, removing the option to test entirely new, unrelated letter combinations once useful information has already been uncovered. That setting can be toggled from the game’s settings menu before starting a new puzzle each day.

Beyond the daily Wordle puzzle, The New York Times has continued expanding its broader portfolio of daily word and logic games in recent years. Those games include Connections, which challenges players to sort 16 words into four hidden categories, and the Mini Crossword, a condensed version of the paper’s traditional crossword format designed to be completed within just a few minutes. Other publishers have introduced their own competing word puzzle offerings as well, including the Los Angeles Times and The Atlantic, giving daily puzzle enthusiasts an expanding array of options to choose from beyond Wordle’s single daily word challenge.

With Wednesday’s word now revealed, players who came up short on the day’s puzzle, or those simply looking to keep an active streak alive, will have a fresh five-letter word and a new set of six guesses to work with when Thursday’s edition of Wordle resets at midnight local time.

Walmart is rolling out a weeklong fall sales event that will overlap with Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days, giving consumers two major discount events during the early holiday shopping season.

The retailer’s Deals & More event begins at 12 a.m. ET Oct. 5 and runs through Oct. 11, offering shoppers seven days of discounts across categories including home, tech, toys and Halloween items.

Amazon’s “Prime Big Deal Days” are scheduled for Oct. 6-7, meaning the two sales events will overlap for two days.

E COLI BLUEBERRY RECALL EXPANDING TO FROZEN MIXED BERRY PACKAGES SOLD AT WALMARTS IN 16 STATES

Walmart is rolling out a weeklong fall sales event that will overlap with Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days. (Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Ahead of the sale, Walmart has been advertising discounts of up to 50% on home items; 40% on tech; 30% on toys, food and Halloween products; 25% on tools; and 20% on wellness items.

“Heads up — big deals coming!” Walmart states on its website.

Unlike Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days, Walmart’s sale is expected to be available to all shoppers and does not require a paid membership.

WALMART MAKES CHANGES TO HOW MILLIONS OF CUSTOMERS CAN PAY AT CHECKOUT

Ahead of the sale, Walmart has been advertising discounts of up to 50% on home items, 40% on tech, 30% on toys, food and Halloween products, 25% on tools and 20% on wellness items. (Reuters/Lisa Baertlein/File Photo)

Amazon, meanwhile, said Prime Big Deal Days is an exclusive event for Prime members.

“Looking to get a head start on your holiday shopping? Prime members can start saving now ahead of Prime Big Deal Days 2026, returning October 6-7 with 48 hours of exclusive deals across more than 35 categories,” Amazon said in a press release Monday.

Amazon said Prime members will be able to shop for millions of deals on brands, seasonal items and everyday essentials when the event begins at 12:01 a.m. PDT on Oct. 6, adding that early deals are already available.

WALMART E-COMMERCE SALES SURGE AS CEO TOUTS ‘PRICE, SPEED AND CONVENIENCE’

Amazon said Prime Big Deal Days is an exclusive event for Prime members. (Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)

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The company also encouraged shoppers who are not already Prime members to sign up or start a free trial to access the sale and other membership benefits.

Walmart and Amazon could not immediately be reached by FOX Business for comment.

US interest rates have been raised for the first time in more than three years to 3.75%-4% from 3.5%-3.75% by the Federal Reserve. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh warned they could be increased further later this year in a bid to slow rising prices.

The increase comes despite fierce opposition from President Donald Trump, who had called for rates to be cut.

The president on Wednesday accused top Federal Reserve policymakers of acting against him for political reasons.

Craig Brelsford

Hello. This is Craig Brelsford with Redchip Companies. Thank you for joining today’s event with TransCode Therapeutics, which trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker RNAZ. Joining us today is Philippe Calais, Chairman and CEO of TransCode; Zdravka Medarova, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer; and John Tattory, the Interim CFO.

We will begin with a brief presentation in a moment, and then we will open the event to your questions. Welcome to everyone joining us today on X, YouTube, LinkedIn and other social media platforms.

[Operator Instructions]

Before we begin, please allow me to read the safe harbor statement. This call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements pertaining to future financial and/or operating results, along with other statements about the future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans or prospects expressed by management constitute forward-looking statements. Any statements that are not historical facts should also be considered forward-looking statements. Of course, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties.

Philippe, please go ahead.

Philippe Calais
CEO & Executive Chairman of the Board

Great. Thank you very much, and hello, everybody. It’s a pleasure to have the opportunity to describe our company today. And let’s jump in right away into the company overview. We really describe ourselves as a rare small cap company with 3 near-term catalysts. First of all, we have a very strong pedigree with some Harvard founders, and Z is one of them. She will be talking later on from Mass General and Harvard Medical School.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Intel shares rose 4.63% to $101.63 in midmorning trading Wednesday, up $4.49, after reports that SK hynix is in talks to make memory in the United States using Intel capacity and after Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan said the company can fill only about half of customer demand for CPUs.

The stock closed Tuesday at $97.14. Premarket prints already pointed higher after The Wall Street Journal and other outlets said SK hynix was discussing a U.S. manufacturing arrangement that could tap Intel’s Ohio footprint. Neither company announced a signed deal. Traders treated the talks as a foundry-and-packaging catalyst: a memory leader needing American wafers, and Intel needing paying volume on tools that have been underused.

Tan spoke Monday at Splunk’s .conf26 conference in Denver. Asked by Cisco President Jeetu Patel why Intel’s factories matter, he said design, manufacturing and advanced packaging should sit in one company. On foundry concentration he was blunt. “So I think relying 95% on one company, especially one based in Taiwan, is very risky,” he said. TSMC held more than 70% of foundry revenue in the first quarter, according to Counterpoint.

On product, Tan said inference still runs on CPUs that schedule GPUs and applications. “CPU demand is so high that we can only serve 50% of our customers,” he said. He also said memory prices have risen five- to sevenfold and that substrates for advanced packaging remain tight. He called packaging the industry’s “Holy Grail.” On Intel’s own recovery: foundry is capital-heavy and slow. “The good news is, over the past 18 months the situation has improved.” He said 18A is in mass production with yields rising about 7% a year. Intel’s last earnings deck still pegged 14A high-volume manufacturing for 2028.

Those comments landed on a stock that has already had a violent month. Intel jumped 9% on Sept. 8, hit $106.24 on Sept. 9, then dropped more than 5% on both Sept. 10 and Sept. 14 as the broader AI-chip tape sold off. Wednesday’s bounce recouped the Monday-Tuesday stall, not the September peak. The 52-week range still runs from the mid-$20s to about $141.

The last official numbers were the second quarter: $16.1 billion in revenue, 25% higher than a year earlier and $1.8 billion above April’s outlook; non-GAAP gross margin 41.8%; non-GAAP earnings $0.42 a share. Third-quarter guidance was $15.8 billion to $16.8 billion, 42% gross margin and $0.38 a share. Foundry revenue in the second quarter was $5.8 billion. Client and data-center CPU lines are still the cash engine; foundry is the option the market is trying to price.

A SK hynix deal, if it happens, would not turn Intel into a DRAM company. It would be a customer for U.S. capacity and a political win in Ohio. Tan’s 50% fill-rate line is the nearer trade: if CPUs are short, Intel can raise prices — reports already point to another PC-processor increase around Oct. 5 — and ship every wafer it can yield on 18A.

Wednesday’s $101 handle is not a verdict on 14A. It is a bid on two sentences: customers want more Intel CPUs than Intel can make, and a Korean memory giant may need a U.S. roof. Until there is a term sheet or a third-quarter print that holds the $16 billion run-rate, those sentences are the whole story.

Owner Tungsten West says it could become one of the Western world’s most important sources of tungsten

A mine in Devon that holds one of the “most significant” deposits of tungsten in the Western world has entered production. Tungsten West, the owner and operator of the Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine near Plymouth, told investors on Tuesday (September 15) that ore was now being processed through the plant.

The mine – formerly known as Drakelands – ceased operations in October 2018 following the liquidation of its previous operator, Australian company Wolf Minerals. Aim-listed Tungsten West took ownership of the site in 2019 and has been working to revive production.

Jeffery Court, chief executive of Tungsten West, described the moment as a “landmark” one for his company.

“[The mine entering production] represents the culmination of an enormous effort by our team and partners to bring this strategically important mine back into operation,” he said.

“At a time when governments and industry are increasingly focused on security of critical mineral supply, Hemerdon has the potential to become one of the Western world’s most important sources of tungsten.

“Our focus now turns to safely ramping up operations and establishing Hemerdon as a reliable, long-term supplier of tungsten concentrate to the UK and its international partners.”

It is understood that Hemerdon could produce up to 20 per cent of the global supply of primary tungsten outside of China once fully operational. Tungsten is used within many industries, including in the automotive and defence sectors.

Following the start of processing, Tungsten West says it will now “progressively ramp up” operations towards targeted steady-state production.

Emma Reynolds, chief secretary to the Treasury, said: “Tungsten West is a great success story for Devon and demonstrates our vision to drive growth in every postcode and the reindustrialisation we need for good jobs across the UK.”

The news comes less than a month after the government announced its National Wealth Fund would inject £71m into the project. The funding comprises a £36m share acquisition, which will hand the government a 7.4 per cent stake in Tungsten and a seat on the board of directors, alongside a £25m loan facility.

Oliver Holbourn, chief executive of the National Wealth Fund, added: “Just a few weeks on from our investment, and we’re already seeing the first tungsten ore being processed at site.

“Through our investment, we want to unlock this strategic asset for the UK, secure a domestic supply of tungsten for our industry and bring jobs and opportunity to local communities. With today’s news, Tungsten West is delivering on the first step in that ambition.”

The Hemerdon project is expected to provide a significant boost to the West’s economy, including generating 350 direct jobs.