The S&P 500 rose to a new all-time high on Wednesday as traders' enthusiasm for the technology trade overshadowed yet another hotter-than-expected inflation report.
The broad market index rose 0.58% to 7,444.25, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.2% to end at 26,402.34. Both hit fresh intraday and closing records. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 67.36 points, or 0.14%, ending at 49,693.20.
Technology stocks outperformed from the rest of the market, as inflation fears spurred by higher energy prices due to the Iran war weighed on other sectors such as retail and banking. Nvidia shares closed higher by more than 2%. Micron Technology gained more than 4%. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) advanced 2%.
In contrast, roughly two-thirds of the S&P 500 were lower during the session, FactSet data showed. That included home improvement retailer Home Depot and others linked to the economic cycle such as key financial stock JPMorgan.
"The chip trade has certainly kind of taken on a life of its own where I think investors think that the kind of demand and the growth there is so structural that these other more cyclical macro forces don't really change the dynamic," Ross Mayfield, Baird investment strategist, told CNBC. "Amid all the stuff going on in the world, in particular the oil shock, I think investors have felt safe hiding out in those stocks because the [artificial intelligence] boom is coming regardless."
Wednesday's tech moves comes after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang joined President Donald Trump on his trip to China to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping. The decision signaled to investors that there could be positive developments regarding Nvidia being able to sell its artificial intelligence chips in Chinese markets, according to Mayfield, whose expectations for the meeting are still "fairly muted."
Semiconductor stocks in particular have been on a tear of late, leading the broader market back to record highs, amid renewed enthusiasm in the AI trade. However, even though chip stocks and those related to the AI infrastructure buildout are to some degree "moving completely on their own," Mayfield is unconvinced that the recent momentum will last much longer.
"At some point those investors will look up and, if they find a macro environment that has really turned against them, might look around and be like, 'Alright, it's time to take a few gains, because the promise that the war would be over quickly has clearly not materialized,'" he said.
To be sure, the S&P 500, along with the Nasdaq, slipped from all-time highs on Tuesday following the release of hotter-than-expected U.S. consumer inflation data.
On Wednesday, the producer price index jumped 1.4% in April. That marked the biggest increase on a monthly basis since March 2022 and was much more than the 0.5% rise that economists polled by Dow Jones were expecting. Additionally, wholesale inflation gained 6% on an annual basis — the largest increase since December 2022. That figure was also above the 4.9% consensus estimate.
