SPX: S&P 500 Books Back-to-Back Records as Oracle Makes History with $255 Billion Added

Another day, another dollar – quite literally. Markets kept the hype going a day before inflation data hit the decks. But what if the CPI surprises to the upside?

🚀 S&P 500 with the Record Sesh

• The S&P 500 index ORCL soared 35%, adding $255 billion to its already-grand market cap of $670 billion.
• Wall Street’s broad market benchmark closed at 6,532.04 points, but during the session it peaked to an intraday high of 6,555.97. Its tech-heavy peer also made some good efforts to close at a record.
• The Nasdaq Composite index IXIC closed higher by just 0.03%. It ain’t much but it’s honest work – another record in the books, at 21,886.06 (also after logging a record intraday high before pulling back a bit).
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJI was the laggard of the pack, finishing the session lower by 0.5%, or 220 points. It’s largely because investors were hungry for riskier picks, not the traditional real-economy selection. But also, Apple is in there and it sank a solid 3.2% on an unimpressive product launch event.

💥 Oracle with the Mighty Pop

• Now, the main character. Oracle ORCL, the veteran software vendor run by the 81-year-old software genius Larry Ellisson. Oracle made history by surging more than 35% on the day, adding a staggering $255 billion to its valuation. Now, the market cap is at nearly $1 trillion. And Ellisson?
• He just got $88.5 billion richer to sit on fortunes of $383 billion. It’s a mere billion away from Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest person. At the session peak, Ellison’s single-day surge was above $100 billion, making him the world’s richest for a few hours.
• Oracle’s backlog of contracted work was what won investors who rushed to load up on the stock. The company has signed contracts worth more than $455 billion. That’s booked revenue and it’s 359% higher than the year-ago number. The revenue and earnings miss? Nobody cared about that.

⚠️ What Else Is Happening?

• What’s the economy saying? Markets’ mood was upbeat after the latest producer price index print showed that wholesale prices actually fell 0.1% in August. It’s a big deal compared with the 0.3% gain analysts had penciled in. Heading into Thursday’s session, one report will be front and center.
• It’s Inflation Day today! Nothing will be more market-moving than the consumer price index for August. The figure is expected to show prices rose 2.9% from last year, a rather worrying projected increase from July’s 2.7% annual growth.
• If the number lands inline or below consensus views, then investors are likely getting another dose of conviction that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its September 16-17 meeting. But if it overshoots, then things will get complicated to the point where the Fed might spoil everyone’s record vibes.