US equity indexes traded mixed after midday Wednesday as a hot producer price inflation print failed to restrain technology bulls.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% to 49,596.1, while the Nasdaq jumped 1.2% to 26,409.3 and the S&P 500 climbed 0.6% to 7,445.5. Utilities, financials, and real estate led the decliners. Communication services, consumer discretionary, and technology were among the top gainers.
Of the top 10 companies with a market capitalization of more than $200 billion, implying a significant sway over indexes, seven were from technology and communication services. In the S&P 500, ON Semiconductor (ON) was among the top outperformers. Nasdaq's leader was Marvell Technology (MRVL), and Nvidia (NVDA) was the second-biggest gainer on the Dow.
Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang joined President Trump on his visit to Beijing, a last-minute addition that has raised expectations of progress in stalled talks over H200 AI chip sales to China, Reuters reported Wednesday.
Cantor Fitzgerald adjusted its price target for ON Semiconductor to $100 from $95 while maintaining its neutral rating.
In economic news, the US Producer Price Index jumped 1.4% in April from a 0.7% gain in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, beating the 0.5% increase expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. After excluding food and energy prices, core PPI surged 1.0% from 0.2%, above the 0.3% advance anticipated.
Year-over-year, PPI soared 6.0% in April while core PPI catapulted 5.2%, both above their respective March rates and the strongest readings since December 2022.
A hotter-than-expected PPI, coupled with Tuesday's larger-than-expected rise in the consumer price index, underscores not only the price impact already realized, but the additional inflationary pressures still coming down the pipeline, according to a Stifel note.
"As the administration continues to work for a resolution to the conflict, even with a nearer-term reopening of the Strait of Hormuz or a restoration of global oil supply and flows, given the lag time between oil and gas prices, the brunt of the price pressure may still be felt in the coming months," Lindsey Piegza, Stifel's chief economist, said in the note.
Meanwhile, in its closely watched Oil Market Report, the International Energy Agency said the loss of Persian Gulf supply is depleting global inventories at a record pace. Inventories fell by 129 million barrels per day in March and by 117 million bpd in April, though rising output from producers outside of the Gulf is helping to ease the supply shock.
"With Hormuz tanker traffic still restricted, cumulative supply losses from Gulf producers already exceed 1 billion barrels with more than 14 mb/d of oil now shut in, an unprecedented supply shock," the agency said.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures slipped 0.3% to $101.90, and Brent crude futures declined 1.5% to $106.19.
US Treasury yields were mixed, with the 10-year up one basis point to 4.48%. The two-year rate was steady at 3.99%.
In precious metals, gold futures rose 0.5% to $4,711.1, and silver futures jumped 5% to $89.84.