〈US Market Close〉PPI Unexpectedly Flat, Oil Prices Drop Over 2%, SanDisk Soars More Than 13%, S&P 500 Hits Record High

The U.S. July Producer Price Index (PPI) unexpectedly remained flat month-over-month, further easing market concerns about a Federal Reserve rate hike in September. Coupled with international oil prices falling over 2%, U.S. stocks rallied on Thursday (13th), with the S&P 500 briefly breaking above 7,800 points during the session and closing at a record high.

The S&P 500 rose 0.65% to 7,798.99 points, setting a new closing record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up nearly 70 points. Boosted by gains in large tech stocks such as Meta, Netflix, and Micron Technology, the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.81%, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index gained 0.46%.

The U.S. Labor Department reported that the July PPI showed no change from the previous month, below the market expectation of a 0.2% increase. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, core PPI rose 0.2% month-over-month, also below the expected 0.3%.

The latest data continues the cooling signal from the previous day's Consumer Price Index (CPI). The U.S. July CPI rose 0.1% month-over-month, in line with market expectations, prompting traders to further scale back bets on a September Fed rate hike.

Falling oil prices also supported equities. Traders assessed weakening crude demand amid ongoing U.S.-Iran tensions, sending Brent crude futures down over 2% to $87.07 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures also fell over 2%, closing at $81.25 per barrel.

U.S. stock market performance on Thursday (13th):

- Dow Jones Industrial Average: +69.72 points (+0.13%), 53,839.99 - Nasdaq Composite: +214.54 points (+0.81%), 26,803.03 - S&P 500: +50.49 points (+0.65%), 7,798.99 - Philadelphia Semiconductor Index: +56.62 points (+0.46%), 12,456.00 - NYSE FANG+ Index: +361.77 points (+1.96%), 18,836.47

Key Stocks

Most of the tech giants in the NYSE FANG+ Index closed higher. Meta (META-US) surged 2.78%; Apple (AAPL-US) rose 1.00%; Alphabet (GOOGL-US) gained 0.82%; Microsoft (MSFT-US) rose 0.90%; Amazon (AMZN-US) fell 0.80%.

Most Philadelphia Semiconductor Index components gained. AMD (AMD-US) rose 0.02%; Broadcom (AVGO-US) gained 0.43%; NVIDIA (NVDA-US) rose 0.54%; Applied Materials (AMAT-US) fell 2.48%; Qualcomm (QCOM-US) rose 1.05%; Micron Technology (MU-US) jumped 4.23%.

Memory stocks surged. Micron Technology (MU-US) rose 4.23%; Western Digital (WDC-US) soared 7.31%; SanDisk (SNDK-US) skyrocketed 13.67%; Seagate Technology (STX-US) gained 4.91%; SK Hynix ADR (SKHY-US) rose 7.29%.

Taiwan-related ADRs mostly gained. TSMC ADR (TSM-US) rose 0.31%; ASE ADR (ASX-US) gained 0.92%; UMC ADR (UMC-US) rose 0.36%; Chunghwa Telecom ADR (CHT-US) fell 0.14%.

Key Stocks

Memory stocks continued their strong performance. SanDisk (SNDK-US) surged 13.7%, closing at $1,528.11 per share. The company forecasted annual revenue growth of 15% to 19% from fiscal 2028 to 2030, with adjusted gross margins expected to stabilize around 80%. It also pledged to return all excess cash after investments to shareholders, alleviating market concerns over rising memory supply and potential price and margin declines.

Netflix (NFLX-US) jumped 5.43% to $78.24 per share. Billionaire Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management revealed it had resumed buying Netflix shares, fueling investor enthusiasm.

Workday (WDAY-US) surged 17.78% to $206.45 per share, marking its largest single-day gain since going public. Reports emerged that private equity giant Silver Lake has been in talks with Workday for months regarding a potential acquisition, though no agreement has been reached.

Cisco Systems (CSCO-US) plunged over 8% to $113.47 per share. Despite beating market expectations on revenue and earnings for the latest quarter, the results failed to meet high investor expectations, dragging down the Dow.

Cerebras Systems (CBRS-US), a competitor to NVIDIA, fell nearly 12% as it swung to a loss in the latest quarter and issued guidance below market expectations.

Coherent (COHR-US), an optical communications component manufacturer, fell about 8% after its earnings report, showing that even AI-trend beneficiaries can face sell-offs if financial results miss elevated market expectations.

Wall Street Analysis

Bill Merz, Head of Capital Markets Research at Bank of America Asset Management, said the current inflation environment is not disruptive enough to derail the corporate-earnings-driven market rally. The slight cooling in CPI and PPI is overall constructive for equities.

However, he noted that how the Fed’s incoming chair Kevin Warsh interprets these data and whether further action will be taken remains an uncertainty the market is digesting.

(All figures are updated as of press time. Actual prices may vary.)