WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks are turning in a mixed performance during trading on Wednesday, with the major averages moving in starkly opposite directions. While the tech-heavy Nasdaq has climbed firmly into positive territory, the Dow has moved to the downside.
Currently, the Dow is down 274.18 points or 0.6 percent at 49,486.38, but the S&P 500 is up 9.02 points or 0.1 percent at 7,409.98 and the Nasdaq is up 164.25 points or 0.6 percent at 26,252.45.
The advance by the Nasdaq partly reflects significant strength among semiconductor stocks, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumping by 2.4 percent.
Nvidia (NVDA) has helped lead the sector higher, surging by 2.8 percent after CEO Jensen Huang was a last-minute addition to President Donald Trump's trip to China to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Meanwhile, the pullback by the Dow partly reflects a steep drop by shares of IBM Corp. (IBM), which are tumbling by 2.9 percent.
Notable declines by shares of Home Depot (HD), Salesforce (CRM) and Sherwin-Williams (SHW) are also weighing on the blue chip index.
The mixed performance on Wall Street also comes following the release of a Labor Department report showing producer prices in the U.S. shot up by much more than expected in the month of April.
The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand jumped by 1.4 percent in April after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.7 percent in March. Economists had expected producer prices to rise by 0.5 percent.
The bigger than expected monthly increase by producer prices marked the largest advance since a 1.7 percent jump in March 2022.
The report also said the annual rate of growth by consumer prices soared to 6.0 percent in April from 4.3 percent in March, coming in well above economist estimates for a 4.9 percent surge and marking the fastest growth since a 6.4 percent spike in December 2022.
'The jump in input prices portends further increases for consumer prices in May,' said Nationwide Senior Economist Ben Ayers. 'We expect annual CPI inflation to move above 4.0 percent in May with energy prices still highly elevated more than two months into the Iranian conflict.'
He added, 'With inflation still trending higher, we expect the hawkish wing of the FOMC to advocate for an extended pause in interest rates even with incoming Fed Chair Kevin Warsh likely to prefer to lower rates over time.'
Following the data, interest rate-sensitive utilities and housing stocks have shown significant moves to the downside on the day.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance on Wednesday. South Korea's Kospi surged by 2.6 percent, while Japan's Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.8 percent.
The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 0.8 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.4 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.3 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries are extending the notable downward move seen over the two previous sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 2.6 basis points at 4.489 percent.
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