Nasdaq's decline accelerated to 2% amid inflation data and a sell-off in chipmakers
The acceleration in U.S. inflation has heightened uncertainty regarding the Fed's policy
A sell-off in chipmakers' stocks dragged down the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indices / Photo: Unsplash/Robb Miller
The Nasdaq Composite Index, in which technology companies account for a large portion of the weighting, fell 2% during trading on October 14. The broad-market S&P 500 index lost 1.3%, while the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average held up better than the others, falling by about 0.5%.
On Wednesday, artificial intelligence-related stocks fell in the U.S. as investors reacted to U.S. inflation data for September, which came in higher than expected, according to CNBC. The U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 3.7% year-over-year and 0.6% month-over-month in September, marking the fastest pace of price increases in five months.
Shares of chipmakers continued to fall. For example, Micron Technology, which had lost more than 3% in the previous session, fell by the same amount on Wednesday. Advanced Micro Devices fell 5.4%, while Intel and SanDisk each lost more than 4%.
In addition to the technology sector, Bank of America shares came under pressure, falling as much as 7% following the release of its third-quarter earnings report. The day before, the U.S. Treasury Department announced a fine of more than $1.2 billion against the bank, stating that it had failed to report more than $5 billion in “suspicious” transactions. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly results exceeded market expectations, but its stock still fell by about 4%.
“This [CPI index] really puts the Federal Reserve in the picture for December,” said Philip Blancato, chief market strategist at Osaic, in a CNBC report. “Taking into account the impact of high oil prices, core CPI inflation will likely be around 3% next year,” he added. The data was released amid persistently high oil prices. However, the strategist does not view the current spike in inflation as a cause for “excessive concern” in either the stock or bond markets, calling it “temporary”: “I think much of this is already priced in.”
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This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
