US equity markets ended Wednesday mixed, with the S&P 500 adding 0.4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising about 150 points, supported by softer-than-expected inflation data. In contrast, the Nasdaq 100 slipped 0.3% amid a selloff in semiconductor stocks.
Both headline and core producer prices increased less than forecast in June, reinforcing the benign CPI figures released a day earlier and further diminishing the odds of a Federal Reserve rate hike at its upcoming meeting. This reassuring inflation backdrop helped counterbalance worries over higher energy prices tied to escalating tensions between the US and Iran.
In corporate news, Morgan Stanley gained 0.2% after reporting upbeat results, joining JPMorgan (+1.1%) and Goldman Sachs (+1.1%) in delivering strong earnings. BlackRock jumped 6.6% following its report, while Johnson & Johnson fell 2.7% after releasing its quarterly figures.
Mega-cap cloud and AI players also advanced, with Microsoft up 2.8%, Amazon 3.0%, and Alphabet 3.2%, buoyed by strong results from ASML. However, declines in major memory-chip producers and a 0.6% drop in SpaceX weighed on the Nasdaq, contributing to the index’s underperformance.
