Market Summary
U.S. equities are staging their best session of an otherwise difficult week, with the S&P 500 (7673.92, +82.22, +1.08%), Nasdaq Composite (26427.54, +324.77, +1.24%), and Dow Jones Industrial Average (52607.37, +543.27, +1.04%) all trading near session highs at midday. The rally follows three consecutive losing sessions driven by surging oil prices and rising Treasury yields, and today’s bounce is being fueled by a sharp pullback in crude — WTI is down roughly 3.2-3.3% to the $99/bbl area — after reports that Gulf states will meet with Iran on Monday to discuss reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
The August CPI report added a layer of complexity to the tape. Headline CPI rose 0.4% month-over-month as expected (3.4% year-over-year, unchanged), but core CPI ran hot at 0.3% versus the 0.2% consensus, pushing the probability of a 25-basis-point rate hike at next week’s FOMC meeting to 90.4% from 69.4% pre-report, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. Despite the hawkish inflation signal, equities are shrugging off rate-hike concerns in favor of oil-driven relief and blockbuster earnings-driven enthusiasm in the AI infrastructure complex.
Sector leadership is broad, with nine of eleven S&P 500 sectors trading higher. Communication Services and Information Technology are pacing the advance, buoyed by mega-cap strength in Alphabet and Apple alongside a powerful rally in AI infrastructure names following Oracle’s blowout cloud results. Only Health Care and Utilities are lagging into negative territory, consistent with a classic risk-on, defensive-rotation-out session.
Market Snapshot
| Index | Level | Change | % Change |
|—|—|—|—|
| Dow Jones | 52607.37 | +543.27 | +1.04% |
| Nasdaq Composite | 26427.54 | +324.77 | +1.24% |
| S&P 500 | 7673.92 | +82.22 | +1.08% |
Breadth (NYSE): Advancers 1,695 | Decliners 904 | Volume 230.47 mln
Breadth (Nasdaq): Advancers 2,615 | Decliners 1,469 | Volume 3.14 bln
WaveFinder Market Breadth:
- Primary Sentiment: Very Bullish
- 4% Sentiment: Bullish
- 40 SMA Sentiment: Bearish
- Primary Bulls/Bears: 795 / 750
- 4% Bulls/Bears: 122 / 41
- Stocks Above 20-Day SMA: 30%
- Stocks Above 40-Day SMA: 31.42%
- 9-Month Bulls/Bears: 21 / 4 (23.08% follow-through)
Sector Performance
Ranked from strongest to weakest based on Briefing.com Industry Watch commentary and WaveFinder ATR readings:
1. Communication Services — Strong; +1.9% intraday (ATR 0.49%, falling, P11)
2. Information Technology — Strong; +1.6% intraday (ATR 0.28%, rising, P100)
3. Industrials — Strong (ATR -1.49%, flat, P32)
4. Consumer Discretionary — Strong (ATR -1.39%, falling, P11)
5. Financials — Not flagged strong/weak (ATR 0.14%, flat, P11)
6. Materials — Not flagged strong/weak (ATR -1.19%, falling, P0)
7. Consumer Staples — Not flagged strong/weak (ATR -1.02%, falling, P11)
8. Energy — Not flagged strong/weak (ATR 1.83%, falling, P5)
9. Real Estate — Not flagged strong/weak (ATR -2.71%, falling, P5)
10. Health Care — Weak; -0.3% intraday (ATR 0.87%, falling, P5)
11. Utilities — Weak; -0.1% intraday (ATR -2.39%, flat, P21)
Key Earnings & Movers
- Dell (DELL) 563.12, +56.50 (+11.15%) — Surging on AI infrastructure spending optimism following Oracle’s results
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) 60.24, +5.01 (+9.07%) — Rallying alongside server/storage peers on AI capex tailwinds
- NetApp (NTAP) 195.23, +11.63 (+6.33%) — Benefiting from data center buildout enthusiasm
- Super Micro Computer (SMCI) 39.64, +2.26 (+6.05%) — AI infrastructure beneficiary
- Oracle (ORCL) 153.00, +0.05 (+0.04%) — Gave back an early gain (had traded up as much as ~8% pre-market) despite a strong Q1 beat; cloud infrastructure revenue accelerated
- Alphabet (GOOG) 338.81, +8.42 (+2.55%) — Leading mega-cap strength in Communication Services
- Apple (AAPL) 334.97, +8.40 (+2.57%) — Contributing to Information Technology sector gains
- RH — Trading higher after a large Q2 EPS/revenue beat, though Q3 revenue guidance came in below consensus; investors focused on Q4 acceleration potential from RH Estates rollout
Stock Spotlight
Oracle (ORCL) is the standout story of the session, even as shares themselves trade roughly flat at $153.00 (+$0.05) after fading from a larger overnight gain. The company’s Q1 (August) report, released after Thursday’s close, delivered adjusted EPS of $1.92 and revenue growth of 29.6% year-over-year to $19.3 billion, comfortably topping expectations. Cloud revenue accelerated to 62% year-over-year growth ($11.6 billion), driven by 121% growth in Cloud Infrastructure to $7.4 billion — up from 93% growth in Q4. Oracle delivered 850 MW of AI capacity and more than 300,000 GPUs since the end of Q4, with capacity delivery nearly tripling versus the prior quarter. RPO backlog swelled to $664 billion, up $209 billion year-over-year, after the company booked more than $30 billion in new AI-cloud contracts during the quarter. Management raised its FY27 outlook to at least $90 billion in revenue and adjusted EPS of $8.10 (from $8.05), while maintaining a roughly $90-95 billion FY27 capex target. GPU utilization remained elevated at 97.9%, and expiring capacity was renewed or resold at a roughly 20% premium.
While ORCL shares themselves have pulled back to flat after an initial pop, the results are reverberating powerfully across the AI infrastructure complex — Dell (+11.15%), HPE (+9.07%), NetApp (+6.33%), and Super Micro Computer (+6.05%) are all sharply higher as investors reassess the durability of data center capex spending. The results reinforce a bullish read-through for server, networking, and storage suppliers that stand to benefit from continued hyperscale AI buildout, even as margin pressure and free cash flow burn remain watch items for Oracle itself given the scale of its infrastructure investment.
Bond Market & Treasuries
Treasuries are trading in mixed fashion following a volatile reaction to the hotter-than-expected core CPI print. Yields initially spiked before longer tenors staged a reversal into positive territory (lower yields).
Current Yield Levels (as of 10:15 ET):
- 2-year: 4.58% (+3 bps)
- 3-year: 4.67% (+2 bps)
- 5-year: 4.74% (+1 bp)
- 10-year: 4.93% (-1 bp)
- 30-year: 5.33% (-3 bps)
The 5-year yield touched as high as 4.985% in immediate reaction to the CPI release before bouncing. The long end is resisting upward pressure even as short-dated yields remain elevated on hawkish Fed-hike expectations, reflecting the market’s view that a rate hike is now highly likely at next week’s FOMC meeting (September 15-16) while longer-term growth/inflation expectations moderate.
Commodities
- WTI Crude Oil: $99.09-99.18/bbl, down approximately $3.30-3.39 (-3.2% to -3.3%) — retreating sharply on reports of a Monday meeting between Gulf states and Iran regarding the Strait of Hormuz, providing broad relief after crude crossed $102/bbl earlier in the week
- Gold: $4,377.60/ozt, -0.7%
- Copper: $6.535/lb, -0.2%
Overseas Markets
Specific index levels for Asian and European markets were not detailed in today’s data, but key overnight developments included:
- Asia: South Korea’s exports for the first ten days of September surged 82.6% year-over-year, with chip exports soaring 270.1%. Japan’s August PPI fell 0.2% month-over-month (vs. 0.0% expected) but rose 7.6% year-over-year. New Zealand’s August Business PMI came in at 53.1 (down from 54.3). China released a five-year plan for intelligent connected new-energy vehicles, while foreign automakers reportedly cut gas-powered vehicle prices in China. There was also speculation the Bank of Japan could accelerate its pace of rate hikes.
- Europe: U.K. July GDP expanded 0.4% month-over-month (vs. 0.0% expected), up 1.6% year-over-year; July Industrial Production rose 0.2% m/m and Manufacturing Production jumped 0.9% m/m, both beating expectations. U.K.’s July trade deficit narrowed to GBP 20.97 billion (better than the GBP 22.60 billion expected). Italy’s Q2 unemployment rate rose to 5.6% from 5.3%. Several ECB policymakers flagged persistently high inflation, fueling speculation of an October rate hike. France’s finance ministry cut its domestic growth forecast to 0.5% from 0.7%.
Economic Data
- August CPI: +0.4% m/m (as expected); Core CPI +0.3% m/m (hotter than 0.2% consensus). Year-over-year: headline 3.4% (unchanged from July), core 2.4% (down from 2.5%). Market impact: pushed September rate-hike probability to 90.4% from 69.4% pre-release, per CME FedWatch Tool.
- September University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment (preliminary): 47.8, well below the 51.5 consensus and down from 51.7 in August (55.1 a year ago). The report highlighted a deteriorating outlook for personal finances and business conditions within the expectations component.
Looking Ahead
- FOMC Meeting: September 15-16 — a 25-basis-point rate hike is now heavily priced in (90.4% probability per CME FedWatch Tool) following today’s CPI data
- Geopolitical Catalyst: Gulf states are scheduled to meet with Iran on Monday to discuss reopening the Strait of Hormuz — a key driver for oil price direction into next week
- Earnings Watch: Continued focus on AI infrastructure spending commentary following Oracle’s strong cloud results, with server, storage, and networking names likely to remain in focus
- Markets will continue to digest Oracle’s raised FY27 guidance ($90 billion+ revenue, $8.10 adjusted EPS) and its implications for the broader AI capex cycle