* US inflation rises more than expected in September
* Bank of America slips after lower Q3 profit
* Chip index falls for sixth straight session
(Updates wtih market close)
Oct 14 (Reuters) – Hotter-than-expected inflation data sent the Nasdaq to a sharply lower close on Wednesday, with worries about more interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve pummeling shares of Oracle, CoreWeave and other AI stocks sensitive to higher borrowing costs.
Increased bets that the Fed will hike rates further to tame inflation dealt a sharp blow to some of the market’s biggest gainers of 2026. Oracle, CoreWeave and Nebius all tumbled.
Dell and Hewlett Packard Enterprise sank after Barclays downgraded the AI server makers to “equal-weight” from “overweight”.
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index fell for a sixth straight session, its longest losing streak since May 2025.
US consumer prices accelerated in September as the cost of gasoline surged and price pressures broadened beyond energy, data from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics showed.
Interest-rate traders are pricing in a 37% chance that Fed policymakers will raise rates this month, up from 22% on Tuesday, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.
“Investors are not happy with the report because that puts pressure on the Fed to raise rates to combat inflation,” said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments, in New York. “Inflation remains public enemy number one for the market and for the Fed.”
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 83.96 points, or 1.08%, to end at 7,721.49 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 502.90 points, or 1.85%, to 26,701.48. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 45.23 points, or 0.09%, to 51,624.87.
After hitting a record high last week, the S&P 500 remains up over 12% in 2026, with most of that gain fueled by AI-related stocks. The median S&P 500 stock has gained 4% in 2026, and over 200 of the index’s components are in negative territory.
Bank of America fell. The lender’s profit fell in the third quarter as it set aside $1.2 billion to cover regulatory fines for failures to detect potential money laundering. Morgan Stanley dropped, despite a rise in quarterly profit.
The S&P 500 Banks index dipped to its lowest level in over four months.
Before the inflation data was released, Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman saidthe central bank had time to wait and see how markets and the economy evolve after its September rate rise before deciding further action.
Bending Spoons rallied after Berkshire Hathaway invested another $330 million in the owner of Vimeo and AOL, a big endorsement from the high-profile investor whose moves traders closely follow.
(Reporting by Tharuniyaa Lakshmi and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru, and by Noel Randewich in San Francisco; additional reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch Editing by Devika Syamnath and David Gregorio)
