(Updates with index/price moves and geopolitical/company news from the first paragraph.)
US equity indexes traded mixed after Micron Technology's (MU) strong quarterly results failed to lift technology amid a slump in Apple's (AAPL) shares, and the annual inflation rate surged to its highest level in more than three years.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.6% to 25,316.1 ahead of Thursday's close. The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% to 7,349.2, giving up intraday gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% to 51,968.8, off session highs. Communication services and consumer discretionary led the decliners, while industrials and health care were standout gainers. Technology was among the decliners.
Micron's shares rose past 14%, among the top gainers on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, after the company reported fiscal Q3 adjusted earnings and revenue that topped estimates, with Q4 guidance also beating consensus. Shares jumped more than 19% earlier in the session. Rising production of HBM, the high-bandwidth memory used in AI accelerators, is driving strong momentum for Micron, with HBM revenue already above $1 billion and market share topping 20%, RBC Capital Markets said in a note.
Apple shares slumped 5.2%, among the worst performers on the Nasdaq and the Dow, after the company, according to media reports, raised prices of its iPads and MacBooks amid surging memory and storage chip costs.
Meanwhile, in economic news, annual inflation accelerated to 4.1% in May, the fastest print since April 2023, matching consensus, based on the personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, price index data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. It follows a 3.8% gain in April. Core PCE inflation, which strips out food and energy, accelerated to 3.4% from a year ago, as expected, from 3.3% in April. That's the highest reading since October 2023.
In geopolitical news, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attacked a Singapore-flagged cargo ship Thursday in the Strait of Hormuz, The Wall Street Journal cited two senior US officials in a news report.
This comes after the Revolutionary Guard had warned that commercial vessels only use routes approved by Tehran, Al Jazeera, a Middle East news broadcaster, reported on Thursday. The warning followed an announcement from Oman setting out a new shipping transit route through the strait on Wednesday, saying it had coordinated the route with the International Maritime Organization, the news report said.
The front-month global benchmark North Sea Brent jumped 2.7% to $75.75 per barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate climbed 2.9% to $72.37 per barrel, rebounding after touching pre-Iran war levels this week.