US tech stocks continue to lead gains, with the cooling of CPI in April boosting market sentiment - S&P rebounds at its fastest pace in nearly 40 years

Newspaper (North America) NewsOn May 13, 2025, the main indices of the US stock market showed a divergence of gains and losses, with technology stocks performing particularly well. Tesla rose nearly 5%, Nvidia rose 5.6%, and Apple's stock price climbed 1%, helping the technology sector lead the market. The slowdown in the latest consumer inflation data for April, coupled with the temporary suspension of trade frictions, has led to an improvement in market sentiment, resulting in inconsistent trends among the three major indices.

The S&P 500 index rose 0.72%, rebounding from the low point triggered by Trump's tariffs at the beginning of the year in just six weeks, setting a new record for the fastest annual rebound since 1982, indicating that the market is optimistic about easing liquidity pressure and revising policy expectations. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.61%, continuing the previous technical bull market trend. In contrast, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 0.65% due to an 18% drop in the United Health Group.

The specific closing data is as follows:

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 269.67 points, or 0.64%, to close at 42140.43 points;

• The S&P 500 index rose 42.36 points, or 0.72%, to close at 5886.55 points;

• The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 301.74 points, or 1.61%, to close at 19010.08 points.

The Magnificent 7 index of American tech giants rose 2.06% to close at 160.17 points. In terms of individual stocks, Nvidia rose 5.63%, Tesla rose 4.93%, Meta Platforms rose 2.6%, Amazon rose 1.31%, Apple rose 1.02%, Google A-shares rose 0.68%, and Microsoft fell slightly by 0.03%. In addition, AMD rose 4.01%, Berkshire Hathaway's B-class stock fell 0.47%, and Eli Lilly fell 1.26%.

The year-on-year increase in CPI in April fell to the lowest level since 2021, easing market concerns about tariffs pushing up prices. Bond market participants expect the Fed's first interest rate cut to be postponed. Specific data shows that the overall CPI annual rate has dropped to 2.3%, while the core CPI remains at 2.8%, both reaching their lowest levels since the peak of spring inflation in 2021. Although the slowdown in inflation leaves room for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, economists warn that the impact of tariffs is still gradually transmitted, and businesses are struggling to adapt to the Trump administration's changing trade policies.

In terms of monthly data, inflation in April increased by 0.2% month on month, higher than March's -0.1%, which is basically in line with expectations. Analysts point out that the new round of tariff policies has not significantly increased the costs of related industries, and although retailers are striving to maintain price stability, they are expected to be forced to raise prices in the future. Analyst Cameron Kreis believes that tariffs have limited transmission to overall prices, partly due to retailers still digesting previously stockpiled inventory, which has also led to a widening trade deficit.

Goldman Sachs economists point out that companies stocking up in advance or delaying the transmission of tariff costs to consumers. Federal Reserve official Nick Timiraos commented that the inflation data for April was in line with forecasts and not yet sufficient to prompt the Fed to change its wait-and-see stance. If it weren't for the impact of tariffs, interest rate cuts might have been implemented earlier, but the uncertainty of rising costs in the coming months may make the Federal Reserve cautious.

The current market generally expects the Federal Reserve to only cut interest rates once in December this year, by 25 basis points. CME's "Federal Reserve Watch" shows that the probability of keeping interest rates unchanged in June is as high as 91.7%, and the probability of interest rate cuts is only 8.3%; The probability of keeping interest rates unchanged in July is 63.3%, and the probability of a cumulative interest rate cut of 25 basis points is 34.2%.

In terms of key stocks, Nvidia surged nearly 6% due to favorable trade conditions, and its market value reached a new high of over 3 trillion US dollars. CEO Huang Renxun announced that the company will sell over 18000 of its latest Blackwell artificial intelligence chips to Humain Enterprises in Saudi Arabia to support the country's 500 MW data center project. Tesla and Meta rose nearly 5% and 3% respectively, continuing the tech led uptrend.

The stock price of United Health Group suffered a sharp decline of 17.79%, ranking third in the US stock market in terms of transaction volume. The company announced the cancellation of its 2025 performance forecast and announced the resignation of CEO Andrew Witty due to personal reasons, to be succeeded by former CEO Stephen Hemsley. As one of the largest health insurance companies in the United States, its performance expectations and management changes are closely monitored by the market.

In addition, despite quarterly losses, sports brand Andema's revenue performance exceeded expectations, driving its stock price up nearly 1%.