Investors might have been expecting a surprise from this morning's wholesale inflation, but they probably didn't foresee the 0.1% decline in both the Producer Price Index and core PPI. An unexpected sag in services offset an increase in goods, while the BLS downwardly revised July's PPI data. As you'd expect, markets reacted kindly to the news. It now awaits the consumer-equivalent print, the Consumer Price Index, tomorrow morning.
It wasn't the only good news. Tech giant Oracle had surprises of its own during its earnings yesterday evening, which have spilled over into today. The market's top stock today, the company plotted a track for fantastic growth, with the backlog approaching $500 billion thanks to new contracts.
It's not only a sign that the AI boom has not yet abated, but a stunning indication of where it could be going from here. Blindsided investors sent the stock soaring more than 40% on the news. It also made Oracle Founder and CTO Larry Ellison the world's richest man.
Monday Reading
Adding to the bullish sentiment, President Trump's attempts to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook were halted by a federal judge, while the Supreme Court agreed to take up his tariff appeal.
News reports on the downside making inroads are Ozempic creator Novo Nordisk laying off 9,000 employees and Poland requesting a consultation with its NATO allies after Russian drones invaded its airspace en route to Ukraine.
In any case, at last look, the S&P 500 (+0.44%) and Nasdaq (+0.34%) are at intraday highs and on their way to record closes. The Russell 2000 (-0.07%) and Dow (-0.49%) booked modest declines at midday..
TurboTax Via TheStreet
-- Noah Weidner, markets reporter
