The benchmark S&P 500 (SPX) added to Tuesday’s record closing high after the monthly Producer Prices Index reading unexpectedly ticked lower and Oracle shares soared. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) also set a new all-time high.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose 0.5% each. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI), which also closed at a record high yesterday, fell 0.5%, led by nearly 3% declines in shares of Apple (AAPL), which unveiled its iPhone 17 models yesterday.
The PPI reading indicated wholesale inflation ticked 0.1% lower in August, down from a revised increase of 0.7% in July. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires had estimated a 0.3% rise in August.
The Federal Reserve will be closely monitoring the PPI figures as well as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures tomorrow ahead of its meeting next week. Several recent reports showing a weakening of the U.S. labor market have convinced market participants that the Fed is about to embark on a series of rate cuts after having stood pat on rates this year amid uncertainty about the impact of tariffs.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which affects borrowing costs on a wide range of consumer and business loans, slipped below 4.07% from 4.09% just before the PPI data was released. The yield hit its lowest level since early April on Monday as the rate-cut expectations increased.
Bitcoin advanced near $114,000 and the U.S. dollar index, which tracks the performance of the U.S. dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, fell slightly to 97.63 after the PPI data. Gold futures were hovering near all-time highs at $3,685 an ounce, while West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, rose 1% to above $63 per barrel, on pace for a third straight day of increases after falling to their lowest level in three months last week.
Oracle (ORCL) shares soared more than 40% after the company boosted its outlook amid booming artificial intelligence demand. Shares of AI chipmakers Broadcom (AVGO), Nvidia (NVDA), and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) jumped roughly 11%, 5% and 4%, respectively.
Shares of meme stock GameStop (GME) added 5% as the videogame retailer announced its bitcoin holdings surpassed $500 million at the end of the second quarter. U.S.-listed shares of Novo Nordisk (NVO) rose 1.5% after the Danish maker of weight-loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic announced it would be laying off about 9,000 employees.
Mortgage Demand Soars to the Highest Application Levels Since 2022
16 minutes ago
Mortgage rates hit their lowest levels since last October and people took notice—applications for home loans surged last week.
According to Mortgage Bankers Association data, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate declined for a second week, falling to 6.49% in the week ending Sept. 5. The decline sent signals to borrowers, who applied for 9% more mortgages than the previous week.
“The downward rate movement spurred the strongest week of borrower demand since 2022, with both purchase and refinance applications moving higher,” said Joel Kan, MBA deputy chief economist.
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The housing market may be beginning to thaw after elevated mortgage rates and high-priced housing have helped to freeze sales. Mortgage application volumes have been at historically low levels as interest rates have hovered above 6.5% for most of the year.
The recent decline in rates has motivated some borrowers, as buyers and homeowners chase cheaper borrowing costs.
Read the full article here.
Lisa Cook Retains Fed Role as Judge Temporarily Halts Trump’s Move to Fire Her
37 minutes ago
A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from removing Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, allowing her to continue serving at the central bank while her lawsuit contesting her firing proceeds.
The move means that Cook, who Trump had fired for allegedly falsifying her mortgage documents, will remain on the seven-member board of the central bank, which is part of the 12-member committee that is responsible for setting interest rates in the U.S. The committee is scheduled to meet next Tuesday and Wednesday, and is widely expected to cut the Fed’s benchmark rate.
Trump has repeatedly scolded Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not cutting interest rates this year, and the move to dismiss Cook raised concerns that the central bank’s independence could be compromised. Trump said after announcing Cook’s firing that he’d soon have a majority on the Fed board, leading some experts to worry that future Fed decisions could be influenced by political considerations.
Judge Jia Cobb in Washington, D.C., granted Cook’s request for a temporary court order so she could keep her seat on the Fed’s board for now. The judge ruled that Trump couldn’t fire Cook, partly because her alleged actions took place before she was Fed governor.
Read the full article here.
Oracle’s Market Cap Approaches $1 Trillion
51 minutes ago
With today’s stock surge, Oracle’s market capitalization is approaching $1 trillion, surpassing the likes of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Walmart (WMT).
Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Oracle’s market cap recently stood at about $950 billion, making it the 10th-largest publicly traded American company and 12th-largest firm on the planet, according to CompaniesMarketCap.com.
Nvidia tops the list with a market cap of about $4.34 trillion.
Oracle Levels to Watch as Stock Rockets Higher
1 hr 25 min ago
Oracle (ORCL) shares soared 40% Wednesday morning after the computing giant raised its outlook for cloud infrastructure sales and said it added several large new customers amid booming AI demand.
The company, which has struck deals with big tech customers including Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT), said it now sees cloud infrastructure sales jumping 77% to $18 billion this fiscal year, above its June forecast of 70% growth. CEO Safra Catz told investors that the company expects to sign-up several additional multi-billion-dollar customers in coming months to push its booked cloud orders over half a billion dollars.
Leading into the company’s earnings release, Oracle shares had gained 45% so far in 2025, handily outpacing the S&P 500’s return over the same period, boosted by robust demand for its cloud infrastructure services and AI database integration tools.
After setting their all-time high in late July, Oracle shares consolidated in a flag pattern ahead of the company’s quarterly results, laying the groundwork for a continuation of the longer-term uptrend. Indeed, the stock looks set to gap to a fresh record high on Wednesday.
It’s worth noting that the shares have already registered their highest volume this week since mid July, suggesting that some larger market participants rebalanced portfolios leading into the report.
Read the full technical analysis piece here.
Big-Name Buy Now, Pay Later Company Klarna Set to Go Public Today
1 hr 42 min ago
Klarna, a leading buy now, pay later firm, is poised to make its stock-market debut today.
The company overnight said it sold 34.3 million shares at $40 apiece, above the range it had earlier indicated they might sell for in the closely watched fintech initial public offering.
Of those, 5 million were sold by the company, suggesting proceeds of $200 million. The total sharecount suggests a market value approaching $14 billion.Trading is expected to begin the New York Stock Exchange later today with the company using the ticker symbol “KLAR.”
Klarna helped pioneer buy now, pay later financing, in which a purchase is broken up into interest-free payments that are automatically deducted from a user’s bank account. The payment method has skyrocketed in popularity in the two decades since Klarna launched, evolving from a way to splurge to a tool many now use to pay for groceries. BNPL transactions are so ubiquitous that Fair Isaac Corp. (FICO) recently said it will incorporate them in its credit scoring frameworks.
Read the rest of the story here.
Major Index Futures Point to Mixed Open
3 hr 54 min ago
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.1%.
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S&P 500 futures rose 0.3%.
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Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.2%.
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