Stocks rose Thursday as strong earnings from Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) helped propel the broader tech sector higher. Investors were also encouraged by another muted inflation report which suggests that President Donald Trump's tariff policies are not impacting prices.
The S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY) and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQ: QQQ) added nearly 0.4% and 0.2%, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA) also climbed over 100 points, as the 30-stock index was pressured by Boeing (NYSE: BA) shares after an Air India Dreamliner 787 crashed after takeoff with 242 passengers on board.
Oracle reported fiscal fourth-quarter results that beat expectations on both top and bottom lines late Wednesday, and saw its shares jump over 14% as the software maker said it expects its cloud infrastructure revenue to rise by more than 70% in fiscal year 2026. Chief Executive Officer Safra Catz called for full-year revenue of over $67 million during the company's earnings call with analysts.
"We are doing a bunch of things to lower out capex costs," founder and Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison said during the earnings call. "But even if we do that, capex is going to go up because the demand right now seems almost insatiable. I mean, I don't know how to describe it. I've never seen anything remotely like this."
On the economic front, wholesale prices rose at a modestly clip in May as inflationary pressures continue to ease across the economy, even as Trump's 10% tariffs on nearly every country take effect. The producer price index (PPI) -- which measures the final demand prices in the U.S. economy -- rose 0.1% from April after falling 0.2% in the previous month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday. Annually, producer prices rose 2.6%.
Excluding volatile food and energy prices, prices rose 0.1% month-to-month and 3% on an annual basis. All readings came in slightly below Dow Jones economists forecasts.
While Trump's tariffs have yet to have a material effect on prices, the uncertainty surrounding their long-term impact on the economy has kept stocks trading at muted levels despite key earnings reports and inflation data readings topping Wall Street expectations in recent weeks. However, their impacts can be seen in the weakening of the U.S. dollar -- which sank to its lowest level in three years on Thursday -- and the softening of the labor market.
Initial unemployment claims remained at their highest level in eight months at the start of June and continuing jobless filings climbed to their highest level since November 2021 as waning consumer and business confidence begins to cool the labor market. Filings for the week ended June 7 totaled 248,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday, coming in above expectations, while continuing claims totaled 1.956 million from the previous week's 1.902 million.
Trade representatives from the United States and China reached a second trade framework after two days of talks in London on Wednesday, with the two countries agreeing to ease some restrictions surrounding rare earth minerals and technology exports.
Trump also said Wednesday that he would be willing to extend a July 8 deadline for some countries that are still finalizing their trade deals, echoing similar comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent before the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday that the White House could pause the 90-day reciprocal tariffs for countries that show "good faith" in talks.
"I would, but I don't think we're going to have that necessity. We made a great deal with China," Trump told reporters. "We're dealing with Japan, we're dealing with South Korea. We're dealing with a lot of them. So we're going to be sending letters out, in about a week and a half, two weeks, to countries, telling them what the deal is, like I did with EU."
Looking ahead, market participants will turn their attention towards the University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment reading for June for more clues on the health of the American consumer in response to prolonged tariff uncertainty.