US stocks fell on Wednesday as hotter-than-expected inflation data and ongoing volatility in the AI infrastructure sector weighed on markets. The S&P 500 declined 0.3% and the Nasdaq 100 slid nearly 1%, while the Dow ended little changed. Semiconductor stocks extended this week’s losses after ASML said it could not keep pace with demand from chip fabs, even as Chinese rivals rolled out enhanced products that are closing the gap with US and South Korean competitors.
The stronger headline and core inflation readings reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will deliver another interest rate hike this year. In tech, AMD and Intel each fell 3%, while Dell, SanDisk, and Palo Alto Networks dropped between 3% and 7%. Among financials, Bank of America sank more than 7% after reporting weaker-than-expected equity and fixed-income trading revenues. Morgan Stanley gained about 1% as its equity trading revenue beat forecasts, and BlackRock inched higher after attracting more client capital to its asset management business, lifting fee income.
