Stock Market Today: Stocks edge higher after wild tech rally

Updated at 4:37 PM EDT by Rob Lenihan

Stocks ended higher Thursday, as investors turned to tech and semiconductor companies and gave markets a shot in the arm.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 235.06 points, or 0.58%, to end the session at 41,096.77, while the S&P 500 gained 0.75% to close at 5,595.76, marking its fourth winning day, and the tech-heavy the Nasdaq advanced 1% to finish the day at 17,569.68.

Nvidia, Alphabet and Facebook parent Meta Platforms all posted gains.

Producer price showed factory inflation came in as forecast, rising 0.2% on the month in August, although the year-over-year tally was modestly easier at 1.7%, the lowest since February.

“The monthly increase in prices was slightly more than expected but this was offset by downward revisions to July, and the annual increase matched expectations,” said Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank.

Adams said the big story in the report was lower energy prices, with “global energy demand is sluggish due to weak economies in Europe and China.”

"OPEC has been trying to restrain energy supply to bolster prices, but that has been offset by U.S. energy production growing to new record highs," he said.

"The fastest growing component of U.S. energy production is solar power, increasing more than 20% year-over-year, while the type of production contributing the most to the total increase is petroleum products (Oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids) since they are growing off of a larger base," Adams said.

The PPI report doesn’t change interest rate expectations, he said.

"Comerica forecasts for the Fed to cut the fed funds target a quarter percent at next Wednesday’s decision, and signal that further rate cuts are coming in following decisions," Adams said.

Updated at 11:20 AM EDT

Micron slump

Micron Technology ( MU ) shares a notable downside mover Thursday following a rare 'double downgrade' for the AI chipmaker amid concerns over pricing power for its DRAM memory chips.

Exane BNP Paribas issued the downgrade report Thursday, which was paired with a price target cut from Raymond James.

Micron shares were last marked 4% lower on the session as $96.92 each, a move that deepens the stock's slide since its late June earnings to around 42%.

Related: Analysts overhaul Micron stock price targets amid post-earnings slump

Updated at 9:40 AM EDT

Flat open

The S&P 500 was marked 6 points higher, or 0.11%, in the opening minutes of trading, with the Nasdaq nudging 45 points, or 0.45% into the green

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 5 points while the Russell 200 gained 10 points, or 0.48%.

Updated at 8:34 AM EDT

Prices and jobs

Weekly jobless claims edged higher over the period ending September 7, with 230,000 Americans filing for new unemployment benefits, a 2,000 increase from the prior period.

Producer price data also showed factory inflation came in as forecast, rising 0.2% on the month in August, although the year-over-year tally was modestly easier at 1.7%, the lowest since February.

Updated at 8:20 AM EDT

ECB delivers

The European Central Bank lowered its benchmark deposit rate by 25 basis points following its two-day meeting in Frankfurt in a move that was fully priced-in by global bond and currency markets.

The ECB's benchmark deposit rate now sits at 3.5%.

The central bank said it sees slower core price pressures over the final months of the year, but made no changes to its headline projections, which include a modest increase for this year. It did, however, lower its GDP growth estimates for the next two years.

Updated at 7:21 AM EDT

Big deal

McDonald's ( MCD ) shares edged lower in the premarket after the world's biggest restaurant chain said it would extend its $5 value meal offering into year-end.

McDonald's, which posted weaker-than-expected second quarter earnings in late July amid slowing global sales, is looking to win back customers who are still seeing stubbornly high prices in the "away from home" food category.

McDonald's shares were marked 0.1% lower in premarket trading to indicate an opening bell price of $290 each.

Stock Market Today

Stocks ended higher on Wall Street yesterday, with a late rally in megacap tech names in a volatile trading lifting the Nasdaq nearly 370 points, or 2.17%, on the session and the S&P 500 rising 1.07% by the close of trading.

A mixed reading of consumer price inflation showed sticky core price pressures over the month of August even as the headline reading slowed to 2.5%, the lowest in three-and-a-half years. The data snuffed out bets on a big Fed rate hike and lifted Treasury bond yields into the close of the session.

The CME Group's FedWatch puts the odds of a 50 basis point rate cut next week in Washington at just 13% but is still pricing in at least a full percentage point of rate reductions between now and the end of the year.

Benchmark 2-year notes were last seen trading at 3.668% while 10-year paper was pegged at 3.678% heading into the Thursday trading block. Weekly jobless claims figures and wholesale inflation data are due at 8:30 am Eastern Time.

The Treasury will also auction $22 billion in new 30-year long bonds later in the session.

Investors will also be watching today's European Central Bank rate decision in Frankfurt as President Christine Lagarde and her colleagues are expected to lower the benchmark deposit rate by a quarter point, to 3.5%, and signal further cuts to come as the world's biggest economic bloc sputters and inflation eases.

Related: CPI inflation report pumps the brakes on big Fed rate cut bets

Heading into the start of the trading day on Wall Street, futures contracts tied to the S&P 500, which remains down 1.67% for the month, are priced for an opening bell gain of around 7 points.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, suggest a 48 point opening bell gain with the Nasdaq priced for a 30 point bump.

Stocks on the move include Nvidia ( NVDA ) , which extended its recent run of gains with a 1% move in premarket following media reports that it could be cleared to sell high-end AI chips to Saudi Arabia.

U.S. oil prices bumped higher, with WTI crude futures for October delivery bouncing back from this week's three-month low. This as Hurricane Francine made landfall off the coast of New Orleans carrying 75 mile per hour winds.

Related: Mortgage rates make a huge move as bonds surge

WTI futures were marked $1.24 higher at $68.55 per barrel as the storm threatened production facilities in the Gulf region, an area that includes around 39% of all U.S. oil and gas production.

In Europe, the regional Stoxx 600 benchmark rose 1.07% in early Frankfurt trading ahead of the ECB rate decision, with gains powered by tech stocks, while Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.84% in London.

More Wall Street Analysts:

• Analyst says Intel should drop a key business to survive
• Analysts adjust Bookings.com stock price target on travel market
• Analysts place bets on Las Vegas strip casino stocks

Overnight in Asia, the Nikkei 225 ended a seven-day losing streak with a solid 3.41% leap, with tech names powering the outsized advance and the yen falling below the 143 mark against the U.S. dollar.

The regionwide MSCI ex-Japan index, meanwhile, notched its best gain in nearly a month and was marked 1.62% higher into the close of trading.

Related: Veteran fund manager sees world of pain coming for stocks