Stocks struggled to regain momentum Tuesday afternoon following a morning dip, as economists predicted that Wednesday’s Consumer Price Index report would show a 3.4% annual inflation rate, up from 3.2% in February. Investors have been hoping for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates as joblessness remains low and inflation wanes. But a potential inflation uptick is making the market anxious.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered from its early losses to close down just 9 points to 38,883.67, about flat for the day, The benchmark S&P 500 closed up 0.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.3%.
Nvidia stock slips as Google and Intel release new AI hardware
Google parent Alphabet said Tuesday that one of the few alternatives to Nvidia’s popular AI chips is now available to developers. The tech giant’s latest AI chip, the Cloud TPU v5p, was first announced in December, the same day as its chatbot Gemini. Google also announced an Arm-based central processing unit called Google Axion to rival the CPUs of Microsoft and Amazon. The British tech company Arm licenses its design for chips’ infrastructure for actual chip manufacturers to build upon. Google’s new chip marks the first time it has licensed Arm’s chip infrastructure for a CPU.
And Intel unveiled its latest AI hardware Tuesday, saying it has better performance and efficiency for training generative artificial intelligence models than industry alternatives — even Nvidia’s highly sought after chip.
Following the announcements, Alphabet stock closed up 1.3% rose 0.9%
AI stocks more broadly declined on Tuesday. AI chipmaker Nvidia’s stock closed down 2% and Super Micro Computer stock shed 2.6%.
Boeing airplane deliveries fall
Boeing delivered the fewest planes in almost three years last quarter. The company said Tuesday that only 83 of its jetliners made their way to customers from January through March — the lowest number since 2021, when production was still recovering from a pandemic-induced slowdown.
In the last three months of 2023, Boeing delivered 157 planes. The shortfall came just as the company was trying to ramp up production to retake its lead over French rival Airbus.
Boeing stock closed down almost 2%.
BlackBerry rises on a robotics bet
BlackBerry stock jumped more than 7% Tuesday after the company announced a collaboration with chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices on robotic systems, which is meant for the industrial and healthcare industries.
Moderna and Pfizer stocks gain traction
Biotech company Moderna announced Wednesday that three experimental vaccines had shown positive clinical trial results. They are not related to the company’s covid-19 vaccine, and Moderna is moving the shots to the final stage of testing.
The news boosted Moderna stock, which has fallen in the post-pandemic era. Moderna stock jumped more than 6%.
In separate news, Pfizer said it plans to seek regulatory approval to expand the allowed use of its RSV vaccine, Abrysvo, for adults 18-59, following positive results from a last-stage clinical trial. There is currently no approved vaccine for adults under 59 years old who have an increased risk for the respiratory virus.
Pfizer stock closed up 0.7%.
-Laura Bratton, Britney Nguyen, Melvin Backman, and Bruce Gil contributed to this article.
