The S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) rose to a fresh record high on Wednesday after the latest inflation data showed wholesale prices unexpectedly declining, supporting investor outlooks that the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates next week. Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) also posted its best day since 1992 after reporting dazzling cloud demand projections.
The broader market index climbed 0.3% to settle at 6532.04 for the first time, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQ: QQQ) eked out its own record close, rising above its flatline to end at 21,886.06. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA), meanwhile, dropped over 200 points to close out the session at 45,490.92.
Moving markets, prices for wholesale producers unexpectedly fell by 0.1% in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' producer price index (PPI) showed on Wednesday, coming in well below the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.3% rise. On an annual basis, the headline PPI increased 2.6% in August.
Excluding food and energy prices, core PPI also declined by 0.1% when it was expected to climb 0.3%. When also excluding trade prices, the PPI came in at a gain of 0.3% and was up 2.8% year-over-year.
The report comes ahead of August's consumer price index (CPI) reading due out Thursday morning, which is expected to show inflation rise by 0.3% on the month and 2.9% annually. The more closely watched core CPI, which is one of the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauges, is also expected to rise 0.3% and 3.1% in August, respectively.
Also in the spotlight, Oracle shares jumped 30% on Wednesday after the database software provider said it has seen explosive growth for its data centers, benefitting from the explosive artificial intelligence industry. The gains came even as the company missed expectations in its fiscal first-quarter results.
Oracle said its remaining performance obligations, which measure revenue the company is contracted to receive, popped nearly 360% year-over-year to $455 billion. The company said in a statement that it expects to see $18 billion in cloud infrastructure revenue in the 2026 fiscal year, implying more than 75% growth annually. Oracle also projects that annual total to grow to $32 billion, $73 billion, $114 billion and $144 billion over the next four years.
Chief Executive Officer Safra Catz said during the company's earnings call with analysts that Oracle had signed four multibillion-dollar contracts with three different customers in the first quarter, adding that the company has also reached "significant" contracts with "the who's who of AI, including OpenAI, xAI, Meta (NASDAQ: META), Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), AMD (NASDAQ: AMD), and many others."
The cloud company ended the day at an all-time high, gaining $244 billion in market cap to now be valued at $922 billion. Oracle's founder, Larry Ellison, also added about $100 billion to his net worth on Wednesday, topping Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk to become the world's richest person, according to Bloomberg News.
Looking ahead, market participants will turn their attention towards August's CPI reading Thursday morning, alongside earnings reports from companies including Kroger (NYSE: KR), Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) and RH (NYSE: RH) throughout the day.