US stocks mixed as Dow dips, Oracle surges on AI, inflation cools

The US stocks opened mixed on Wednesday as the Dow Jones edged lower, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted modest gains.

The investors continue to weigh the latest developments in the US-Iran war and volatile oil prices while digesting fresh US inflation data.

The Dow slipped 82 points, or 0.2%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.3%.

Traders remain cautious as the conflict in the Middle East continues to disrupt energy markets and cloud the outlook for inflation and interest rates.

The inflation number lands

February's Consumer Price Index came exactly as the street expected: 2.4% year over year, 0.3% higher than January on a monthly basis.

Core CPI, which strips out food and energy, the most volatile categories came in at 2.5%, its lowest reading since 2021 and down from 2.7% in December.

Shelter costs, which measure rent and equivalent homeowner costs and have been one of the most stubborn inflation drivers, rose just 3% annually.

The above inflation numbers will look like good news in normal times, but the past few weeks have been anything but normal.

The data captures prices only through February 28. Military strikes involving Iran began on March 1, after which Brent crude rose above $115 per barrel in the following weeks.

The energy shock that traders have spent the past ten days pricing into their risk models simply does not appear in today's number, because it had not yet happened when the data was collected.

March's CPI print, due in April, is where this story either gets complicated or quietly resolves.

Oracle's building momentum

Oracle's stock opened roughly 13% up on Wednesday, the market's verdict on its Q3 FY2026 earnings report.

EPS came in at $1.79 against a consensus estimate of $1.70, while revenue reached $17.2 billion versus the $16.92 billion the street had pencilled in.

Cloud revenue grew 44% year over year, and cloud infrastructure, the business of renting raw computing power to AI developers, expanded 84% year over year.

It signalled that Oracle's aggressive positioning as an AI infrastructure platform is translating into actual contracts.

The guidance is where the story accelerates.

Oracle raised its FY2027 revenue target to $90 billion, well above the $86.6 billion Wall Street had modelled.

New enterprise commitments from Lockheed Martin, SoftBank, and Air France-KLM were flagged on the earnings call, a sign that Oracle's foundry of AI cloud infrastructure is attracting industrial-scale customers.

This matters in an environment where AI spending was beginning to face scrutiny.

Markets now face a familiar question: whether strong corporate momentum can offset geopolitical risk and a potential energy-driven inflation rebound.

With oil volatility, the Fed’s policy outlook, and the next CPI print all looming, traders are likely to stay cautious even as pockets of growth, particularly in AI infrastructure, continue to attract capital.