With the Fed decision and most of the earnings season in the rearview, the last full week of September presents a lighter slate of scheduled financial programming — opening the door for whatever wild-card news the universe has in store.

For instance, a giant must-watch meeting between President Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, that is set to feature AI's biggest figures, and a big conference from Meta.

Last week saw stocks mostly tread water despite the first Fed rate hike since 2023, as investors did a lot of looking around at bonds and stocks, trying to get a read on the market's various rooms.

Trying to figure out what the Fed hike actually means — and whether it will make any difference to inflation — will be high on the week's to-do list. Stocks have largely drifted as the two competing forces have canceled each other out: High bond yields and strong earnings forecasts.

Read more: How the Fed rate decision affects your bank accounts, loans, credit cards, and investments

While the earnings calendar is relatively calm, we'll have our eyes on corporate reports from Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) and Darden Restaurants (DRI), which will provide checks on consumers and, in Costco's case, a key place where the inflation rubber meets the road. We'll also be watching commentary from KB Home (KBH) as mortgage rates surge once again. 

Without any big economic data releases, some of the more niche data may find itself taking center stage. Keep an eye on our calendar.

Trump and Xi get ready for dinner with the AI titans

President Trump will be hosting Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week for the second time in 2026.

Quite a lot has happened since Trump's visit to China in May: a sticky war with Iran, a corresponding energy crisis, and growing risks amid an AI arms race between the two countries, just to name a few plot points.

Going into this, one has to imagine Trump is looking for wins with a low approval rating and that growing laundry list of things that are worrying the public — in a bipartisan fashion, no less.

The obvious thing markets are looking for is a continuation of the two countries' trade truce ahead of its November expiration. While that's broadly expected, any meeting between volatile parties could always devolve into something worrying.

Especially when touchy subjects like Taiwan or a war without any visible off-ramp are being discussed.

It's not hard to see how the latter subject could present problems: China, which is close to Iran, has allegedly been circumventing sanctions and possibly even sharing intelligence with Tehran.