U.S. stocks opened higher Wednesday, August 12, with technology leading after July inflation came in exactly where Wall Street expected and strong earnings from three AI-infrastructure companies reignited the artificial-intelligence trade. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened up 5.6 points, or 0.01%, at 53,797.47. The S&P 500 jumped 37.3 points, or 0.48%, to 7,765.46, putting the index back in record territory, while the Nasdaq Composite surged 235 points, or 0.89%, to 26,680.47.
The morning’s economic reports delivered a relatively friendly combination. Consumer prices rose 0.1% in July and 3.4% from a year earlier, down from June’s 3.5% annual rate. Core inflation, excluding food and energy, increased 0.2% for the month and 2.5% year over year, down from 2.6%. All four readings matched economists’ expectations. Separately, mortgage applications rose 3.6% in the week ended August 7 as the average 30-year mortgage rate eased to 6.77% from 6.81%, providing a modest pickup in housing demand.
The inflation report matters because it takes some immediate pressure off the Federal Reserve after July unexpectedly produced job losses. The Fed has held its benchmark rate at 3.50% to 3.75% for five straight meetings, and at the July session three voting members dissented in favor of raising it. Traders moved slightly further toward expecting a hold in September, with the probability around 55% following the report. Treasury yields moved lower, with the 10-year yield around 4.65% to 4.67% Wednesday morning.
The bigger fuel for the Nasdaq is corporate earnings. CoreWeave surged more than 20% after reporting second-quarter revenue of $2.58 billion, up 112% from a year earlier, and lifting its outlook as its AI-computing backlog climbed to roughly $104.2 billion, before more than $25 billion of additional commitments secured early this quarter.
Super Micro Computer jumped about 10% after fiscal fourth-quarter revenue nearly doubled to $11.12 billion and adjusted earnings of $1.70 a share came in at nearly double what analysts expected. Gross margin was the number that moved the stock, rising to 17.6% from 10.1% the prior quarter against company guidance of 8.2% to 8.4%. Management said it booked more than $60 billion in new orders during the quarter and guided fiscal 2027 revenue to a range of $65 billion to $72 billion, against $39.1 billion in the year just ended. Revenue for the quarter did fall roughly $610 million short of estimates, a miss investors largely set aside.
Nebius Group, which reported Wednesday morning, climbed more than 12% on revenue of $582.3 million, up 454% from a year ago, and its first positive quarterly adjusted earnings at $236.2 million.
That AI strength is spreading beyond the headline names. Shares tied to networking, optical equipment, servers and data-center infrastructure also moved higher, including Lumentum, Coherent, Marvell, Applied Digital and IREN. Cava gained after stronger traffic helped lift quarterly results. Outside technology, Definium Therapeutics rose about 20% after the New York biotechnology company said its LSD-based tablet met the main goal of a late-stage anxiety trial. Intel remained the counterweight to the day’s optimism, under pressure after enlarging its planned common stock sale to $20 billion from $15 billion to fund its own computing buildout.
For investors worried that enormous AI capital spending might be slowing, CoreWeave, Super Micro and Nebius delivered the opposite message: customers are still committing billions of dollars to computing capacity.
The one complication is energy. Brent crude remained near $89 a barrel and U.S. crude around $84 as negotiations over reopening the Strait of Hormuz remain unresolved. That means Wednesday’s cooler inflation report is looking backward: much of the latest oil increase occurred after the July measurement period and could begin appearing more clearly in August prices.
Elsewhere in commodities, gold rose about 0.8% to roughly $4,400 an ounce and silver gained 1% to $65.30. The dollar was little changed, with the dollar index near 99.8. The yen remained the soft spot at about 159.4 to the dollar, close enough to 160 to keep Japanese intervention in the conversation.
For the rest of Wednesday, investors have several checkpoints. The weekly petroleum inventory report landed at 10:30 a.m. ET, one of two potential movers for oil on the day. A 10-year Treasury auction at 1:00 p.m. will test demand for government debt, followed by the July federal budget report at 2:00 p.m. After the closing bell, Cisco, StubHub and Coherent are among the companies scheduled to report earnings. Above all, any new U.S.-Iran or Hormuz headline can still quickly move oil, Treasury yields and the broader market.
JBizNews Desk | Wall Street
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
