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The S&P 500 climbed to another record on Wednesday, helped by strong earnings from Oracle and fresh signs that inflation is slowing. Investors are betting that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates as soon as next week.
By early afternoon in New York, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% and had touched a new record of 6,555.97. The Dow Jones fell 253 points, or 0.6%, while the NASDAQ added 0.2%. All three indexes had already closed at record highs on Tuesday, and momentum stayed strong as traders kept faith in a rate cut at the Fed’s September 16–17 meeting.
A revision to U.S. job data showed that employment may have been cooling even before President Donald Trump rolled out steep import tariffs in April. At the same time, inflation pressures looked weaker than expected. Factory-gate prices, measured by the producer price index, slipped 0.1% in August. Economists had predicted a 0.3% rise. The fall was mainly due to a drop in service costs, the sharpest monthly decline since April. The softer data adds to hopes that the Fed will move quickly on cutting rates.
The CME’s FedWatch tool now shows traders almost fully expect at least a quarter-point rate cut, with rising chances of a bigger half-point move. Treasury yields also ticked higher as bond markets adjusted to the outlook.
In corporate news, Oracle stock surged after the company delivered blockbuster earnings and a strong forecast powered by demand for artificial intelligence. Its MultiCloud database revenue jumped more than 1,500%, fueled by partnerships with Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. Oracle said it expects booked cloud revenue to top $500 billion in the near future. Analysts at Deutsche Bank pointed to several multi-billion-dollar contracts, including big deals tied to OpenAI, as proof of surging demand.
The optimism around Oracle spilled into other AI-linked names. Shares of NVIDIA, Broadcom, CoreWeave, and Dell all rose on the upbeat outlook.
GameStop also surprised investors, reporting revenue growth of 22% to $972 million in the second quarter. That sent its shares higher.
Apple, however, slipped after unveiling its iPhone 17 lineup, a new ultrathin “iPhone Air,” and updates to the Apple Watch and AirPods. Prices on the premium iPhone models were raised by $100, while the entry-level iPhone 17 held steady at $799.
Not all tech names were winners. Synopsys fell after missing revenue forecasts, and Chewy plunged following weaker-than-expected results that disappointed investors.
The day’s mix of strong corporate earnings, cooling inflation, and anticipation of Fed action kept Wall Street buzzing, with investors watching closely for the consumer price index report due Thursday.