The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 196.39 points, adding a gain of 0.43%. National investors are holding their breath to see what this week’s CPI and PPI inflation reports mean for future monetary policy. At the same time, futures linked to the Dow edged lower as well, down 49 points, or 0.1%. The broad S&P 500 index gained 0.27%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.37%. Nasdaq 100 futures fared even better, advancing 0.1%.
In major stock news, Synopsys shares tanked nearly 13% after issuing lackluster fiscal third-quarter results. Oracle’s shares jumped up 23%. This exceptional expansion was powered by an incredible 1,529% surge of revenue in multicloud database from big three—Amazon, Google and Microsoft cloudy—in the fourth quarter.
In a statement highlighting Oracle’s recent success, CEO Safra Catz mentioned, “We signed four multi-billion-dollar contracts with three different customers in Q1. It was an astonishing quarter and demand for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure continues to build.”
GameStop made waves this week as its stock jumped up 4% today. This wave was preceded by the company’s release of second-quarter earnings, which came in at 25 cents per share—excluding items—on phenomenal revenue of $972.2 million. This strong performance was particularly notable in the context of a choppy market overall.
To add to the irony, UnitedHealth saw a huge increase in its stock price, mirroring the positive conditions for the overall healthcare sector. An overall increase of 0.3% per month is expected, across the entire economy. At the same time, investors remain cautious but hopeful about the potential influence of future inflation data.
“In general, the inflation news over the next couple of days would have to be remarkably hotter than anticipated for anything to change the narrative that we’re getting a rate cut in September,” an economist stated.
Wall Street awaits new economic signposts. Investors are very focused on how these trends will impact Federal Reserve policy in the coming months.