Stocks opened largely higher on the back of an inflation report that has further cracked open the door for a larger rate cut by the Fed next week and a surge in Oracle’s market value.
The S&P 500 rose 0.4% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq was also 0.4% higher. Both indexes are building on their record levels notched on Tuesday. The Dow was down 59 points, or 0.1%
Oracle stock jumped 35% after the company’s earnings report last night showed a big backlog of orders due to demand for cloud-computing infrastructure. Its hard to overstate the excitement behind this stock. “Less than 0.35% of all earnings reports since 2001 have resulted in a stock rally of more than 31% in reaction to earnings, and in those rare instances, the gains have typically been seen in small and micro-cap stocks,” Bespoke Investment Group wrote. Oracle is a large stock that closed with a market value of $680 billion on Tuesday.
The stock is currently trading at $331.78, taking its market value to above $900 billion. Any move above $356.02 would mean the company is worth a trillion dollars. The math is based on the share count released in June and can change when the company releases the 10-Q report, a detailed financial statement for its first quarter, in a day or two, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
Bank of America upgraded its rating on Oracle stock to Buy calling the backlog “exceptional.”
Adding to the good news for the stock market was this morning’s inflation report, which came in benign. Producer prices didn’t rise as much as the market expected, giving the Fed more room to cut interest rates this year. Investors will now turn their focus to tomorrow’s report on consumer prices.
Treasury yields are down across the curve today for 2-, 10-and 30-year debt. The 2-year yield is down by the most, though, as considerations of rate cuts are taking center stage.
“We expect investors will soon refocus on the risk that the Fed needs to go beyond simply returning to neutral and eventually shift into an accommodative stance – this is a risk that is currently underpriced. 2-year yields will continue to stall out at 3.50% until the risk of cutting below neutral becomes a more serious conversation in the market,” wrote Ian Lyngen, rate strategist at BMO.