The Closing Bell
Stocks slid across the board as a hotter-than-expected inflation print collided with a hawkish Fed and sent chip stocks and growth names into retreat.
The CPI print landed hot and the Fed talked tough.
Headline CPI rose 0.4% month over month, core CPI 0.3%, both running above what the market wanted to see with rate cuts still on the table. Fed Governor Waller's comments reinforced the view that rates stay elevated longer than hoped, and Treasury yields pushed higher in response, with long bonds (TLT) down 1.3% on the day. That combination hit growth and tech hardest: the S&P 500 (SPY) fell 0.5%, the Nasdaq-heavy QQQ dropped 0.9%, and small caps (IWM) gave back 0.8%. Even gold (GLD) couldn't catch a bid, falling 2.7% as a stronger dollar (UUP up 0.6%) overwhelmed any safe-haven demand from the inflation scare.
Semiconductors took the brunt of the rate repricing.
A broad swath of chip names traded lower on the session, Micron, Intel (INTC), Arm, Lattice, SiTime and others among them, as rising yields pressured the valuations that AI infrastructure stories depend on. Intel itself closed down 2.7%. Inside that selloff, one relative-strength story stood out: AMD has gained 25% against Nvidia over the past two days, with at least one chip analyst crediting CEO Lisa Su for being "at her best" as the AI hardware race reshuffles leadership even as the group broadly sold off.
Qualys cratered, AAON ripped, and Archer Aviation took it on both analyst chins.
Qualys (QLYS) was the session's biggest single-name loser, down 13.2% as analysts adjusted price targets on the stock. On the other side, AAON (AAON) surged 19.9%, even as Oppenheimer tweaked its price target, and Acadia Pharmaceuticals (ACAD) jumped 9.1%. Archer Aviation (ACHR) fell 2.9% after both Needham and Deutsche Bank cut price targets, to $7 and $10 respectively, even as Needham kept its buy rating. Allied Gold (AAUC) dropped 5.3% despite reaching first gold pour at its Kurmuk mine, operational good news overwhelmed by the broader slide in gold prices. Shift4 Payments (FOUR) fell 3.1% even with Mizuho reiterating an outperform rating and raising its target, a sign the macro tape was driving price action more than company-specific calls today.
After the bell and tomorrow.
CoreWeave (CRWV) reports after today's close, the first big read on AI-cloud demand since the chip sector's rate-driven wobble, and the stock's reaction should set tone for AI infrastructure names into tomorrow. Premarket tomorrow brings Wix, Sea Limited, TransDigm, On Holding and Legend Biotech, a mixed bag that will test risk appetite early. Watch Treasury yields at the open, if they keep climbing on the back of today's CPI and Waller commentary, growth stocks could face another leg down.
Bottom line: hot inflation data and a hawkish Fed repriced the rate outlook today, and chips and growth stocks paid the price while gold offered no shelter, leaving CoreWeave's results after the bell as the next test of whether the AI trade can shrug off higher-for-longer rates.