Stock Market Today: Indexes Jump After Key Inflation Reading as Oil Prices, Treasury Yields Pull Back; Dow Adds 600 Points

T-Mobile Leads Communication Services Sector Higher

FROM 11 minutes ago

T-Mobile US is the top-performing stock in the top-performing S&P 500 sector today.

T-Mobile (TMUS) shares are up more than 3.5% to lead the S&P 500 Communication Services Sector in mid-afternoon trading.

AppLovin (APP) also is up more than 3%, and a handful of others in the sector are up at least 2%, including Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL).

Communication Services is up 1.6% to pace S&P 500 sector advancers. The benchmark index is more than 1% higher overall.

Health Care Is Only S&P 500 in Red Today—Barely

FROM 1 hr 41 min ago

UnitedHealth Group is a major reason why Health Care is the only S&P 500 sector in the red today.

Shares of UnitedHealth (UNH) are down nearly 3% and weighing on the S&P 500 Health Care Sector, which is fractionally lower in early afternoon trading.

The other 10 S&P 500 sectors are in positive territory, led by Communication Services and Information Technology, which are up 1.7% and 1.3%, respectively.

UnitedHealth is one of just four Dow Jones Industrial Average components in negative territory Friday. The Dow is up 1%, as is the S&P 500.

What Will Stocks Do If the Fed Raises Rates? 

FROM 2 hr 10 min ago

Traders widely expect an interest-rate hike—the first in more than three years—from the Federal Reserve when it meets next week. What’s next for stocks if that happens? 

If history is any guide, which is hardly guaranteed, they may lose steam before recovering. The first four months after the start of a rate-increase cycle on average saw negative returns for the S&P 500 in the six such cycles since 1994, LPL Financial Chief Equity Strategist Jeff Buchbinder said in a recent note. 

That would take us into early 2027. The benchmark index was up about 11% this year through Thursday’s close. 

The index’s performance tended to improve over time, according to LPL, with average 12-month returns of nearly 7% and a median gain of near 11% after the start of a rate-increase cycle. (Using the median smooths out a more than 40% gain that started in March 1997.) 

“Rate hikes do not typically derail bull markets,” Buchbinder wrote. “When rate increases coincide with rising recession risks, that’s a different story. Today, recession risks are low by all accounts.”

Stocks, however, don’t always rise in the year after the start of rate hikes. They were down 12 months after the start of the last cycle of increases, which coincided with the end of the pandemic. 

The U.S. central bank is contemplating a rate increase to deal with stubborn inflation. A hike on Wednesday would mark the first one since July 2023, when the Fed lifted rates to a range of 5.25% to 5.50%. They’re currently at 3.50% to 3.75%, with futures traders currently placing the likelihood of a 25-basis-point hike at nearly 86%, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

–David Marino-Nachison

Wall Street Analysts Say Oracle’s Earnings ‘Checked Nearly Every Box’ 

FROM 3 hr 16 min ago

Could Oracle’s strong earnings report lead to turnaround in the stock?

Shares of Oracle (ORCL) popped more than 8% Friday morning before paring their early gains, a day after the cloud infrastructure provider beat analysts’ estimates with its fiscal first-quarter results. The shares have lost nearly half of their value from the same time last year, as worries around the company’s spending to finance its data center expansion and its reliance on a few large customers have pressured sentiment. 

JPMorgan analysts told clients they believe the company’s strong showing Thursday on the back of growth in its cloud business should “help in addressing the key concerns that have weighed on the shares” over the last several months. Analysts from Citi said they believe the results “checked nearly every box,” and maintained their “buy” rating and $330 price target.

Morgan Stanley analysts were more cautious, with neutral rating and $210 price target. They called Oracle’s performance “impressive,” but said they’ll be waiting to see more evidence of Oracle’s ability to manage its margins and bring more compute capacity online.

While ratings are still in flux, most Wall Street analysts are bullish on Oracle’s stock. Of the 12 analysts tracked by Visible Alpha, 10 recommend buying the shares, compared to one neutral and one “sell” rating. Their mean target hovers around $238. 

Oracle shares are down more than 20% this year. 

–Aaron McDade

Kroger Stock Rises Despite Mixed Results

FROM 3 hr 32 min ago

Kroger (KR) shares are gaining Friday even though the grocery chain’s results came in mixed.

Kroger said it earned an adjusted $1.09 per share in the second quarter, topping analysts’ estimates, while sales of $34.62 billion and comparable sales growth of 0.2% each fell just short of Visible Alpha consensus.

Kroger also trimmed its comparable sales forecast for the year, now expecting them to grow by less than 1%. 

The retailer has cut prices in recent months to help win over customers with strained budgets. Kroger has also continued its efforts to expand since its deal to merge with Albertsons (ACI) was blocked, announcing a deal earlier in the quarter to buy Giant Eagle, a grocery chain across several states. 

Kroger shares rose 3% but remain nearly 25% off a record high set back in March. They are down 6% since the start of the year.

–Aaron McDade

Inflation Holds Steady as Fed Weighs an Interest Rate Hike

FROM 5 hr 35 min ago

A highly anticipated report on the Consumer Price Index on Friday showed inflation stayed elevated in August.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported consumer prices rose 3.4% over 12 months in August, the same as in July. That was on par with economists’ expectations, according to a survey by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. The “core” index, which excludes the volatile prices for food and energy, rose 2.4% over the year, down from a 2.5% increase in July, but well above the Federal Reserve’s target of a 2% annual increase.

Friday’s report is especially important for financial markets because it could determine whether the Federal Reserve raises its key interest rate at its next meeting next week. Members of the Federal Open Market Committee have been weighing whether to raise the federal funds rate by a quarter point, putting upward pressure on interest rates for mortgages and other loans in an effort to quash inflation.

–Diccon Hyatt

Mortgage Rates Just Hit a 15-Month High—Passing 7%

FROM 6 hr 22 min ago

Homebuyers hoping for relief from high borrowing costs are getting the opposite, as mortgage rates climb back toward levels not seen in more than a year. That threatens to make already-stretched monthly payments even harder to manage. 

The national average for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage climbed Thursday to 7.07%, its highest level in more than 15 months. The last time the average was this far above 7.00% was May 28, 2025, when it reached 7.08%.

This recent run-up has pushed the flagship average almost 30 basis points higher since late August, taking borrowing costs to within a hair of the 7% threshold. Rates are also now more than 90 basis points above their lowest point this year, a dip to 6.16% in late February.

Mortgage rates are rising as financial markets increasingly embrace a higher-for-longer outlook for interest rates, according to Rich Martin, senior vice president of retail lending at Curinos, a data analytics firm. He pointed in particular to the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting, where policymakers did not signal a strong likelihood of easing rates in the near term.

Read the full article here.

–Sabrina Karl

Oracle Stock Jumps as AI Demand Drives Cloud Revenues Higher

FROM 6 hr 22 min ago

Oracle’s stock is surging on gains in its cloud infrastructure business.

Shares of Oracle are up 7% in premarket trading Friday, rising after the database and cloud infrastructure giant posted quarterly results after markets closed yesterday that topped analysts’ estimates and gave a rosy outlook. Oracle reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.92 on a 30% year-over-year rise in revenue to a record $19.35 billion in its fiscal first quarter. Both figures topped analysts’ estimates compiled by Visible Alpha.

Oracle said the results reflected “strong execution in our infrastructure business.” Revenue from the segment more than doubled to $7.4 billion as the company brought more data center capacity online.

“Customer demand for AI Cloud Training and Inferencing Services continues to grow faster than supply,” Oracle said in a statement. The company said it booked more than $30 billion of new AI cloud contracts in the quarter without requiring new infrastructure spending.

Read the full article here.

–Kara Greenberg

Stock Futures Rise Ahead of Key Inflation Reading as Oil Prices, Treasury Yields Pull Back

FROM 7 hr 45 min ago

Futures contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.6%.

S&P 500 futures also pointed up 0.6%.

Nasdaq 100 futures also rose 0.6%.