Stocks Rise Despite Hot Producer Inflation, Intel Soars, Bitcoin Drops Below $96,000: What’s Driving Markets Thursday? – American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP)

Wall Street climbed on Thursday, even as the Producer Price Index (PPI) sharply exceeded estimates in January, reigniting concerns over persistent inflationary pressures.

Despite the hotter-than-expected PPI reading—up 3.5% year-over-year in January, surpassing the 3.3% forecast—investors found some relief in certain PPI components that influence the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, which showed signs of cooling compared to December.

Investor risk appetite remained supported by expectations of ceasefire talks in Ukraine following a conversation between former President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin a day earlier.

By midday trading in New York, all major indices were in positive territory, with technology stocks leading the gains. Among semiconductor stocks, Intel Corp. INTC continued to rally, surging 10% after strong performances in prior sessions.

The U.S. chipmaker benefited from renewed buying momentum following comments from Vice President J.D. Vance, who indicated that the Trump administration plans to ease regulations to accelerate AI chip innovation in the U.S.

Intel has now soared over 27% this week, tracking its best weekly performance since 1974.

The U.S. dollar extended its decline as Treasury yields pulled back sharply, reversing Wednesday’s surge.

In commodities, gold edged up 0.4% to $2,918 per ounce, oil remained steady at $71 per barrel, and natural gas surged 2.4% to $3.66 per million British thermal units.

Sentiment in cryptocurrency markets remained subdued, with Bitcoin BTC/USD sliding 2.4% to trade below $96,000.

Thursday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY rose 0.6% to $606.89.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA rose 0.3% to $445.18.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series QQQ rose 0.9% to $532.98.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM rose 0.4% to $224.58.
• The Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund XLB outperformed, up 1.1%; the Industrials Select Sector SPDR Fund XLI lagged, down 1.2%.

Thursday’s Stock Movers

Stocks reacting to company earnings reports included:

• Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO: up 2.05%
• Zoetis Inc. ZTS: down 7.8%
• Duke Energy Corp. DUK: down 2.5%
• American Electric Power Co. AEP: down 0.6%
• Equinix Inc. EQIX: down 1.9%
• Moody’s Corp. MCO: up 2.9%
• Deere & Co. DE: down 1.5%
• PPL Corp. PPL: down 1.8%
• MGM Resorts International MGM: up 17.9%
• Paycom Software Inc. PAYC: flat
• HubSpot Inc. HUBS: up 1.6%
• Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc. LECO: up 11.7%
• Curtiss-Wright Corp. CW: down 0.5%
• West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. WST: down 34%
• CBRE Group Inc. CBRE: up 1.1%
• DTE Energy Co. DTE: up 2.4%
• AppLovin Corp. APP: up 19.9%
• Reddit Inc. RDDT: down 8.8%.

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Photo: Ryan DeBerardinis via Shutterstock