Oracle Stock Soars, While Synopsys Staggers

Major U.S. equities indexes turned in a mixed performance in the midweek trading session as the August Producer Price Index report revealed an unanticipated decline in wholesale inflation. The signal of moderating price pressure came a day before the release of the closely followed Consumer Price Index data.

The S&P 500 added 0.3% in the midweek trading session, notching a record close for the second straight day. The Nasdaq eked out a daily gain of less than 0.1%, also posting a fresh closing record, while the Dow slipped 0.5%. Read Investopedia’s full roundup of today’s trading here.

Oracle (ORCL) shares skyrocketed 36%, securing the S&P 500’s top daily performance. Although its fiscal first-quarter sales and profits results came in below consensus forecasts, Oracle boosted its guidance for its cloud infrastructure business, pointing to booming AI demand and expectations for several major customer additions in the coming months. The surge in Oracle stock lifted the net worth of chair and co-founder Larry Ellison above that of Elon Musk, according to Bloomberg, making Ellison the richest person in the world.

Other AI-exposed stocks moved higher in the wake of Oracle’s outlook. Broadcom (AVGO) shares jumped 9.8% as the chipmaker said it has approved a long-term equity award for CEO Hock Tan that links his compensation to the company’s success in the AI space. The award provides Tan with performance stock units that will vest only if Broadcom clears ambitious AI revenue milestones.

Another part of the AI story has been the opportunity related to surging energy demand from power-hungry data centers. Shares of Vistra (VST) and Constellation Energy (CEG), two utilities that have been looking to leverage their nuclear facilities and other generation capabilities to capitalize on the AI data center boom, were up 8% and 6.4%, respectively, on Wednesday.

Synopsys (SNPS) shares plummeted 36%, posting the steepest decline of any S&P 500 stock, after the provider of semiconductor design software missed quarterly sales and adjusted profit estimates. Synopsys also provided lower-than-expected guidance for adjusted earnings per share in the current quarter and trimmed its full-year forecast.

Shares of advertising technology company The Trade Desk (TTD) lost 12% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to “equal weight” from “overweight” and reduced its price target. Analysts cited challenges for The Trade Desk’s connected TV business, noting slower growth in video ad billings.

A price target cut from Morgan Stanley also weighed on shares of software engineering firm Epam Systems (EPAM), which sank 7.2%. In addition to expressing concerns about trends in demand and return on capital in the industry, analysts pointed to pending legislation aimed at discouraging U.S. firms from outsourcing work, which could represent a challenge to IT services providers like EPAM.