S&P Ends 4-Day Skid

The S&P 500 snapped a four-day slide on Thursday, boosted by lighter-than-expected inflation data that brightened the outlook for lower interest rates in 2026 and blowout guidance from chipmaker Micron Technology

The Dow Jones Industrials came down from their peaks of the morning, but remained positive 65.88 points by the end of the day, to 47,951.85.

The much-broader index recovered 53.33 points to 6,774.76.

The NASDAQ popped 313.04 points, or 1.4%, to 23,006.36.

During Thursday’s session, Micron was a standout winner, jumping 11% after the semiconductor play topped Wall Street estimates on the top and bottom lines for the fiscal first quarter and offered a strong revenue forecast for the current period.

Micron helped rekindle the artificial intelligence trade, which has seen weakness in recent sessions.

The delayed November consumer price index report — the first one issued to the public after the U.S. government shutdown ended last month — showed that the headline annual inflation rate was 2.7%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The 12-month rate for core CPI, which excludes food and energy, was 2.6%. Economists polled by Dow Jones had expected the rate for the headline measure and core CPI to come in at 3.1% and 3%, respectively.

The report, which didn’t include month-over-month percent changes, was pushed back from its original release date of Dec. 10. The BLS had canceled the release of the October inflation report in late November as a result of the longest-ever U.S. government shutdown, meaning that Thursday’s reading did not have all the usual data points of a standard CPI report.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 4.12% from Wednesday’s 4.16%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices eked ahead seven cents to $56.01.

Gold prices declined $9.90 to $4,364.60.