On Wednesday, major U.S. stock indices closed mixed. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 indices reached new all-time highs. The U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) for April surged 6% year-over-year, marking the largest increase since 2022, indicating rising inflationary pressures. The U.S. Senate approved Kevin Warsh as Federal Reserve Chair with a 54-45 vote.
【U.S. Stocks】 At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 67.36 points, or 0.14%, to 49,693.20. The Nasdaq Composite gained 314.14 points, or 1.20%, to 26,402.34. The S&P 500 rose 43.29 points, or 0.58%, to 7,444.25. Micron Technology (MU.US) rose over 4%, Google (GOOG.US) gained nearly 4%, while Tesla (TSLA.US) and Nvidia (NVDA.US) both advanced more than 2%. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index surged 3.9%, with Baidu (BIDU.US) up over 7% and Alibaba (BABA.US) jumping more than 8%.
【European Stocks】 Germany's DAX 30 index rose 173.33 points, or 0.72%, to 24,148.00. The UK's FTSE 100 gained 56.91 points, or 0.55%, to 10,322.23. France's CAC 40 increased 28.05 points, or 0.35%, to 8,007.97. The Euro Stoxx 50 index climbed 53.30 points, or 0.92%, to 5,861.75. Spain's IBEX 35 rose 75.70 points, or 0.43%, to 17,649.30. Italy's FTSE MIB index advanced 483.52 points, or 0.99%, to 49,474.50.
【Asian Markets】 Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.84%. South Korea's KOSPI gained 2.63%. India's Sensex index edged up slightly. Singapore's Straits Times Index increased 1.17%.
【U.S. Dollar Index】 The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the dollar against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.23% to settle at 98.524. In late New York trading, 1 euro traded at $1.1707, down from $1.1741 the previous session. 1 British pound traded at $1.3516, down from $1.3532. 1 U.S. dollar bought 157.90 Japanese yen, up from 157.59; 0.7823 Swiss francs, up from 0.7808; 1.3716 Canadian dollars, up from 1.3701; and 9.3279 Swedish kronor, up from 9.2926.
【Cryptocurrencies】 Bitcoin fell below $80,000, trading at $79,383.2. Ethereum declined over 1% to $2,255.23.
【Crude Oil】 The June delivery light crude oil futures contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $1.16, or 1.14%, to settle at $101.02 per barrel. The July Brent crude oil futures contract on the London ICE Futures Europe exchange fell $2.14, or 1.99%, to settle at $105.63 per barrel.
【Precious Metals】 Spot gold settled at $4,688.77 per ounce. Spot silver settled at $87.529 per ounce.
【Macro News】 U.S. PPI Records Largest Increase Since 2022, Driven by Rising Energy Costs. U.S. producer price inflation accelerated in April to its fastest pace since 2022, driven by war-related increases in energy prices that pushed up transportation costs. Data released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the Producer Price Index (PPI) rose 6% year-over-year, exceeding all economists' forecasts in a survey. The month-over-month increase was also the largest since 2022. The core measure excluding food and energy rose 5.2% year-over-year, also the largest increase in over three years. This producer-level inflation data followed consumer price data released a day earlier showing a significant year-over-year rise. With the Middle East conflict unresolved and ceasefire fragile, prices for other goods and services face upward pressure as businesses seek to pass on high energy and transportation costs downstream. The PPI report showed goods prices, including fuel, also posted their largest gain since 2022. Energy costs rose 7.8% in April, following an even larger increase the previous month. Meanwhile, services costs rose 1.2%, the largest increase in four years. Within that, transportation and warehousing services prices, sensitive to conflict impacts, rose 5%, driven primarily by increased freight trucking costs and higher margins for fuel retailers.
U.S. Senate Approves Kevin Warsh as Federal Reserve Chair. The U.S. Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh as Chair of the Federal Reserve with a 54-45 vote. The Senate had previously approved Warsh as a Federal Reserve Governor for a 14-year term on the 12th. With the Chair appointment approved on the 13th, Warsh will formally assume his role after completing the relevant White House signing procedures, succeeding current Chair Jerome Powell, whose term ends this Friday, May 15th. However, Powell is expected to remain as a Federal Reserve Governor. The vote was historically partisan: only one Democrat, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, joined the Republican majority in voting yes.
Fed Survey: U.S. Public Highly Concerned About Price Increases in 2025. According to an annual Federal Reserve survey, a vast majority of Americans remained worried about high prices in 2025, while anxiety about the job market also increased. Against the backdrop of near-stagnant job growth last year, 42% of adults reported "finding or keeping a job" caused some level of worry, up from 37% in 2024. Meanwhile, about nine in ten respondents expressed concern about rising prices. The survey was conducted last October, before the outbreak of war in Iran, but even then, affordability issues were widespread in 2025 and were expected to be a significant topic in the upcoming midterm elections.
Fed's Collins: Patience with Inflation Rise Waning, Rates May Need to Stay High Longer. Federal Reserve official Susan Collins said Wednesday she expects interest rates to remain stable for an extended period and believes that under certain scenarios, further policy tightening may be necessary to ensure inflation returns to the 2% target. She noted that traditional monetary policy typically "looks through" temporary supply shocks, such as oil price increases. However, given that inflation has been above target for over five consecutive years, she believes the current patience for containing price increases is waning. Collins stated that the current tight monetary policy "may need to persist for some time." She noted: "The shock has slightly increased downside risks to economic activity while further increasing upside risks to inflation." She also stated that if inflation subsides, the Fed could still proceed with rate cuts later this year. Collins added, however, that if the conflict persists and leads to further price increases, "I can envision a scenario where policy tightening is needed to ensure inflation returns to 2% on a sustained basis within a reasonable timeframe."
'Fed Whisperer' on Fed Mission Reform Bill: New Bill Would Focus Solely on Fighting Inflation. 'Fed Whisperer' Nick Timiraos wrote that the U.S. House Financial Services Committee is reviewing a bill aimed at amending the Federal Reserve Act to eliminate the Fed's dual mandate and focus solely on price stability. The bill's text reads: Amend Section 2A of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 225a) by striking "maximum employment, stable prices" and inserting "stable prices." Timiraos pointed out it's worth considering whether the Fed would have chosen to cut rates last year if this bill had already been law.
【Company News】 Microsoft Seeks AI Acquisitions to Reduce Reliance on OpenAI. According to reports, people familiar with the matter said Microsoft (MSFT.US) is seeking to acquire artificial intelligence startups to prepare for reducing its reliance on its once-crucial partner, OpenAI. Potential acquisitions would help Microsoft stockpile AI talent and advance its previously stated goal of building an advanced AI model by next year. Sources said this spring, Microsoft considered acquiring code-generation startup Cursor but ultimately abandoned the plan after internal assessments concluded the deal would face difficult regulatory scrutiny due to Microsoft's ownership of GitHub Copilot. Microsoft is currently in talks with Inception, a small startup founded by a Stanford team focusing on developing large language models using a technique called "diffusion." Microsoft's venture capital fund M12 participated in Inception's $50 million seed funding round in late 2025. Microsoft faces strong competition from other tech giants in the bidding, particularly from Elon Musk's SpaceX. Sources indicated SpaceX has also approached Inception.
Cisco's Q4 Guidance Exceeds Expectations; Announces Restructuring and Layoffs. The world's largest networking equipment maker, Cisco (CSCO.US), provided a fourth-quarter sales forecast that exceeded analyst expectations, indicating that AI infrastructure buildout is driving demand for networking equipment. In its third-quarter earnings report released Wednesday, the company forecast revenue for the fourth quarter ending in July to be between $16.7 billion and $16.9 billion, with earnings per share expected to be approximately $1.16 to $1.18. Analysts had previously forecast revenue of $15.8 billion and earnings per share of $1.07. The company also announced a restructuring plan, stating it would enable Cisco to increase investment in AI and other growth opportunities. The plan will incur up to $1 billion in severance and other one-time costs. The company said the layoffs will affect fewer than 4,000 positions, representing less than 5% of its total workforce. Following the earnings release, Cisco's stock rose over 13% in after-hours trading. Year-to-date as of Wednesday's close, the stock has gained 32%.
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