Wall Street flirts with a record after AI stocks jump and worries about inflation ease a bit

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is flirting with a record Wednesday after several AI stocks reported better growth for the spring than analysts expected, while a report showed inflation across the United States was slightly less bad last month.

The S&P 500 added 0.3% and was on track for its first gain since setting its all-time high on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 65 points, or 0.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% higher.

Stocks in the artificial-intelligence technology business helped lead the way after strong profit reports bolstered hopes they can continue to deliver big-enough growth to justify the huge gains their prices have made.

Super Micro Computer, which sells servers and other equipment, jumped 13.7% after reporting earnings per share for the latest quarter that were 84% higher than analysts expected. It also gave forecasts for upcoming profit and revenue that topped analysts’ expectations.

CoreWeave, which offers AI computing power to customers over the cloud, leaped 20.3% after reporting better revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, along with a milder loss. CEO Michael Intrator said demand is accelerating from customers as big businesses adopt AI.

CoreWeave gives its customers access to AI chips from Nvidia, and Nvidia climbed 2% to act as the single strongest forces lifting the S&P 500.

It’s a return to strength for AI stocks, which have been veering on a roller-coaster ride for months. After surging to records, AI stocks came under pressure on worries that they shot too high. Investors wanted to see big spenders on AI prove that their investments are yielding better profits to make them worth it. That in turn could lead to continued demand for chips and other building blocks of AI data centers.

Wall Street also got some broad support from easing yields in the bond market. Treasury yields fell after a report showed that U.S. consumers paid prices for gasoline, groceries and other costs of living last month that were 3.4% higher than a year earlier.

That’s higher than anyone would like, but it’s not as bad as the 3.5% inflation rate of June.

The deceleration could give the Federal Reserve more leeway to hold off on hikes to interest rates. Higher rates would help keep a lid on inflation, but it would do so by making it more expensive for U.S. households and companies to borrow and forcing a slowdown in the economy. Higher interest rates also would undercut prices for stocks and other investments.

The Fed’s members have been notably split about whether they should have already begun hiking interest rates. But Wednesday’s update on inflation pushed traders to pull back on bets the Fed will hike its main interest rate at its next meeting in September.

Traders are betting on just a 36% chance of it, down from the coin flip’s chance seen the day before, according to data from CME Group.

That helped pull the yield on the 10-year Treasury down to 4.65% from 4.70% late Tuesday. It, though, still remains well above its 3.97% level from before the war with Iran, which sent oil prices and worries about inflation spiking.

Oil prices edged lower on Wednesday, and the price for a barrel of Brent crude slipped 0.5% to $88.48.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia.

South Korea’s Kospi jumped 3.7% for one of the world’s bigger gains. It’s been at the center of the jarring swings for AI stocks because it’s dominated by two tech giants, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

AP Business Writers Michelle Chapman and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

Trader Fred Demarco, right, and Specialist Michael Pistillo, left, work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

A general view shows the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

PEREIRA, Colombia (AP) — The search for survivors in the rubble of Colombia’s powerful earthquake grew more desperate on Wednesday, two days after the quake brought down buildings, buckled roads and crushed cars.

The devastation has tested Colombia’s new President Abelardo de la Espriella and his government as it scrambles to respond to the natural disaster and civil society as it pushes to provide aid to the vulnerable communities most affected by the quake.

By Tuesday, de la Espriella said the 7.4 magnitude earthquake had killed at least 181 people and left 2,595 more injured in the west of the country. He said at least 195 remained missing, but civilian-run databases put that number at more than 4,000 Wednesday morning.

Teams continued to pick through the rubble overnight in the hardest-hit cities of Cali, Pereira, Manizales and Quibdo, as time ticked away for victims to be found — and rescued — alive.

Aid agencies consider the first 48 to 72 hours crucial for retrieving survivors, though that threshold can be extended if those trapped have access to food and water.

There have been fleeting moments of hope amid the devastation.

In hard-hit Pereira, rescuers pulled Daniela Largo alive from the rubble late Tuesday, capping a complex 12-hour rescue in which crews carved a small opening through the debris to free her pinned arm and a doctor administered IV fluids to stabilize her. Wrapped in a blue blanket, the young woman was carried to a waiting ambulance as firefighters embraced and onlookers erupted in cheers.

In many areas, the official response to the disaster has been complicated by the ongoing crises of deep poverty and civil warfare that has forced displacement for decades.

“This earthquake compounds an already severe humanitarian situation, and there is a need for increased support for the humanitarian response,” said Giovanni Rizzo, Colombia director for the Norwegian Refugee Council.

Many aid organizations were already on the ground at the epicenter of the quake in Colombia, supporting a 2016 peace accord between the government and leftist rebels, and responding to violence involving other armed groups that has persisted since then, particularly in Choco.

That presence allowed humanitarian workers to quickly pivot to disaster relief, said María José Torres, the U.N. resident coordinator in Colombia.

“We have a presence on the ground. Therefore, our ability to be there, present with the people, I think, has increased exponentially,” Torres said in a statement Tuesday.

At the same time, aid from other countries and nonprofits abroad continued to roll in.

The U.S. has offered over $15 million in aid and Mexico’s president said she is prepared to send hundreds of search and health workers, tons of health supplies and other equipment.

On Tuesday afternoon, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said his country would send two planes loaded with 100 tons of aid in the coming days.

“Our prayers are with the families of the victims, the wounded and all the Colombian people,” Bukele wrote on X.

Suarez reported from Bogota, Colombia, and Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations; Manuel Rueda in Bogota; and Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, contributed.

Neighbors embrace as rescue workers search through the rubble of a collapsed apartment building the day after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Volunteers and rescue workers use buckets to remove debris of a collapsed building a day after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)

Patients from a clinic evacuated due to earthquake damage lie in beds at a temporary facility set up in a gymnasium at a nearby school in Cali, Colombia, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)

Rescue workers carry Diana Troncoso after pulling her from the rubble the day after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia) CORRECTION: Changes city to Cali, not Pereira.