Higher-than-forecast inflation data sent technology-linked equities lower on Wednesday, with Oracle, CoreWeave, and other companies whose stock prices are sensitive to borrowing costs retreating as traders priced in a greater likelihood of additional Federal Reserve rate increases. Anticipation that the Federal Reserve would lift interest rates further to rein in inflation put downward pressure on a number of stocks that had recorded the sharpest advances through 2026.

Shares in Oracle retreated 7.3%, while AI-infrastructure providers CoreWeave and Nebius posted steeper drops of 15% and 10% respectively. Dell's share price retreated 12% and Hewlett Packard Enterprise dropped a further 4.6 percentage points after a Barclays analyst downgraded both AI server makers from "overweight" to "equal-weight."

The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index fell close to 4% on what would mark a sixth straight day in negative territory, a run of consecutive declines not seen since May 2025.

Inflation readings for September pointed to a pickup in consumer prices, driven partly by a jump in gasoline costs and a broadening of upward pressure across categories beyond energy, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures released by the Labor Department.

Odds on a rate increase at the forthcoming Federal Reserve policy meeting rose to 37% from 22% within two days, according to CME's FedWatch derivative pricing tool. Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments, pointed to the latest employment figures as a source of investor unease, attributing that unease to the added pressure those numbers placed on the central bank to pursue further tightening. Sarhan identified inflation as the dominant concern occupying both market participants and policymakers.

The S&P 500 closed down 1.35% at 7,700.08. Trading on the Nasdaq left the index 2.02% lower, settling at 26,654.96, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0.51% to close at 51,405.02.

Losses spread across eight of the eleven S&P 500 sector groupings, with information technology posting the steepest drop at 2.64% and communication services trailing behind at 1.77%.

Powered largely by AI-linked equities, the S&P 500 has held onto a year-to-date advance of more than 12% through 2026, a stretch that included a peak not previously reached. About half of the stocks within the S&P 500 have posted negative returns so far in 2026, a picture that contrasts with the index's median constituent, which has gained around 4% over the same period.

Shares of Bank of America shed 5.8% of their value. Quarterly earnings at the bank declined after management allocated $1.2 billion toward anticipated penalties tied to oversight gaps in anti-money-laundering procedures. Shares in Morgan Stanley slid 3.8% on the day, even as the bank posted a quarterly profit increase.

Trading in the S&P 500 Banks index had pushed the gauge down 1.2% at the latest reading. At an earlier point in trading, the value slid past the 2% mark, touching a floor not seen in more than four months.

Shares in BlackRock held close to unchanged on the day, even as the investment management firm disclosed a notable rise in earnings for the third quarter. Michelle Bowman, who holds the Vice Chair for Supervision post at the Fed, indicated that policymakers have room to observe how both financial markets and the broader economy respond to the September rate increase before committing to any next steps.

Shares in Bending Spoons climbed 45% after Berkshire Hathaway put an additional $330 million into the company, which holds ownership of both Vimeo and AOL — a move by the conglomerate that market participants tend to watch closely.

For every stock that gained ground within the S&P 500, roughly 1.7 lost value. On the S&P 500, 14 entries climbed to fresh peaks while 11 dropped to new troughs; over on the Nasdaq, 22 names touched yearly highs against 466 that fell to fresh lows.