The Midday Tape
A hotter-than-expected CPI print has flipped the script on rate-cut hopes, sending yields higher and dragging growth stocks down while defensives do the heavy lifting on the S&P.
The CPI shock is the whole story.
Core CPI came in at 0.3% month over month with the year-over-year print at 3.7%, hot enough to push Fed rate-hike expectations for October back onto the table instead of cuts. The dollar is firmer, Treasury yields are up, and that combination is crushing anything long-duration or rate-sensitive. Gold is getting hit hard, with the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) down 2% as a stronger greenback and rising yields make the non-yielding metal less attractive, and the entire precious metals complex from miners to royalty names is trading lower in sympathy. The broader market reflects the same risk-off mechanics: 8 of 11 S&P sectors are in the red, with defensives, UnitedHealth (UNH) up 3.5% and AbbVie (ABBV) up 3.3%, leading while cyclicals and growth lag. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is off 0.9%.
Tech and chips are taking the brunt of it.
The Nasdaq 100 is down roughly 1% on the inflation data, and the semiconductor complex (SOXX) is now lower for a seventh straight session. Nvidia (NVDA) is down 2.6%, Broadcom (AVGO) is off 2.5%, Microsoft (MSFT) is down 1.2%, and Meta (META) has fallen 3.1% even as UBS raised its price target on the stock. The logic is straightforward: higher borrowing costs raise questions about the pace of AI infrastructure spending, and that's spilling into the fiber-optic and connectivity names, Ciena, Coherent, Corning, and peers, all trading lower on the same read. Oracle (ORCL) is the session's biggest mega-cap casualty, down over 7%, caught in the same tech unwind. The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) is down 1.5%, with the Russell 2000 (IWM) off 1.7% as small caps take it on the chin too.
Single-name volatility is running hot.
Bank of America (BAC) is down 5.8% after reporting this morning, one of the day's sharpest moves among the bank earnings crowd that also includes Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, and State Street. GlobalFoundries is bucking the chip selloff and surging alongside TSMC, while Super Micro Computer is sliding in sympathy with the broader Nvidia-linked weakness. Apple (AAPL) is a rare green mega-cap, up 1%, shrugging off fresh OpenAI lawsuit filings alleging leaked device data. T3 Defense has been repeatedly halted on upside circuit breakers, now up 16%, the day's most volatile single name by far.
Still ahead this afternoon:
after-the-bell reports from regional and community banks (Pinnacle Financial, Home BancShares, Equity Bancshares) will test whether the BAC reaction is a sector read-through or name-specific, and traders will be watching whether rate-hike repricing extends into the close.
Bottom line: a hot CPI print has traders repricing the Fed path in real time, hammering chips, gold, and long-duration tech while defensives and bank earnings dominate the crosscurrents into the afternoon.