US Stocks Drift, Waiting on Inflation  12/10 09:22

   Wall Street is quiet on Tuesday, and U.S. stock indexes are drifting in the 
runup to the highlight of the week for the market, the latest update on 
inflation that's coming on Wednesday.

   NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street is quiet on Tuesday, and U.S. stock indexes are 
drifting in the runup to the highlight of the week for the market, the latest 
update on inflation that's coming on Wednesday.

   The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged, a day after pulling back from its 
latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 139 points, or 
0.3%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.4%.

   Tech titan Oracle dragged on the market and sank 9.2% after reporting growth 
for the latest quarter that fell just short of analysts' expectations. CEO 
Safra Catz said the company saw record demand related to 
artificial-intelligence technology for its cloud infrastructure business, which 
trains generative AI models.

   AI has been a big source of growth that's helped many companies' stock 
prices skyrocket. Oracle's stock had already leaped nearly 81% for the year 
coming into Tuesday, which raised the bar of expectations for its profit report.

   C3.ai also fell, down 6.9%, even though it reported a smaller loss for the 
latest quarter than analysts expected. The AI software company increased its 
forecast for how big a loss it expects to take this fiscal year from its 
operations.

   In the bond market, Treasury yields edged higher ahead of Wednesday's report 
on the inflation that U.S. consumers are feeling. Economists expect it to show 
roughly similar increases as the month before. That and a report on Thursday 
about inflation at the wholesale level will be the final big pieces of data the 
Federal Reserve will get before its meeting next week, where many investors 
expect the year's third cut to interest rates.

   The Fed has been easing its main interest rate from a two-decade high since 
September to lift the slowing jobs market, after bringing inflation nearly down 
to its 2% target.

   The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.22% from 4.20% late Monday.

   Even though the Fed has been cutting its main interest rate, mortgage rates 
have been more stubborn and have been volatile since the autumn. That has 
hampered the housing industry, and homebuilder Toll Brothers' stock fell 5.4% 
even though it beat analysts' expectations for profit and revenue in the latest 
quarter.

   Elsewhere on Wall Street, Alaska Air Group soared 12.2% after raising its 
forecast for profit in the current quarter. The airline said demand for flying 
around the holidays has been stronger than expected. It also approved a plan to 
buy back up to $1 billion of its stock.

   Eli Lilly rose 1% after the health care giant benefiting from demand for its 
obesity and diabetes treatments increased its dividend and approved a plan to 
buy back up to $15 billion of its stock to send cash to its investors.

   In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in China after the world's 
second-largest economy said its exports rose by less than expected in November. 
Stocks rose 0.6% in Shanghai but fell 0.5% in Hong Kong.