{"id":72442,"date":"2026-09-30T16:38:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T20:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wall-street-ends-mixed-as-cooling-inflation-clashes-with-late-session-turbulence-micron-surges-on-guidance\/72442\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T16:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T20:38:14","slug":"wall-street-ends-mixed-as-cooling-inflation-clashes-with-late-session-turbulence-micron-surges-on-guidance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wall-street-ends-mixed-as-cooling-inflation-clashes-with-late-session-turbulence-micron-surges-on-guidance\/72442\/","title":{"rendered":"Wall Street Ends Mixed as Cooling Inflation Clashes with Late-Session Turbulence; Micron Surges on Guidance"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock\/MU\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"20\" title=\"Stock: MU\">Micron<\/a> Technology (<a href=\"\/stock\/MU\">MU<\/a>)<\/strong> shares surged in after-hours trading following a massive Q4 earnings beat and Q1 revenue guidance of <strong>$60B\u2013$63B<\/strong>, significantly higher than the <strong>$56.77B<\/strong> analyst estimate.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>Core PCE Price Index<\/strong>\u2014the Federal Reserve&#39;s preferred inflation gauge\u2014rose just <strong>0.2%<\/strong> in August, fueling hopes for a less aggressive central bank, though markets still price a <strong>less than 40% chance<\/strong> of an October hike.<\/li>\n<li>Major indices closed mixed after a volatile final hour of trading, with the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/indices\/dowjones\/today\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Dow Jones Today\">Dow Jones<\/a><\/strong> falling <strong>0.70%<\/strong> and the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/indices\/sp500\/today\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"snp500 today\">S&amp;P 500<\/a><\/strong> slipping <strong>0.08%<\/strong>, while the <strong>Nasdaq<\/strong> managed a <strong>0.35%<\/strong> gain.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Google (<a href=\"\/stock\/GOOGL\">GOOGL<\/a>)<\/strong> CEO Sundar Pichai confirmed the responsible rollout of &quot;Argon&quot; (Gemini 4) with a <strong>1 million token output limit<\/strong>, despite reports of internal skepticism regarding its real-world coding performance.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Paramount Global (<a href=\"\/stock\/PARA\">PARA<\/a>)<\/strong> and <strong>Skydance<\/strong> announced Ynon Kreiz as Co-CEO for the anticipated merger with <strong>Warner Bros. Discovery (<a href=\"\/stock\/WBD\">WBD<\/a>)<\/strong>, projecting <strong>$6 billion<\/strong> in run-rate synergies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Market Volatility and Inflation Data<\/h2>\n<p>Wall Street experienced a turbulent final hour of trading on Wednesday, with equities erasing earlier gains sparked by cooling inflation data. The <strong>S&amp;P 500 (<a href=\"\/stock\/SPY\">SPY<\/a>)<\/strong> closed nearly flat, down <strong>6.52 points<\/strong> to <strong>7,664.32<\/strong>, while the <strong>Dow Jones Industrial Average (<a href=\"\/stock\/DIA\">DIA<\/a>)<\/strong> dropped <strong>359.79 points<\/strong> to finish at <strong>50,990.13<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>PCE Price Index excluding food and energy<\/strong> rose a smaller-than-expected <strong>0.2%<\/strong> in August, suggesting that underlying inflation continues to moderate. Despite this, <strong>30-year Treasury yields<\/strong> remained at their highest levels since 2002, and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/energy\/crude-oil\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"12\" title=\"Crude oil\">oil prices<\/a><\/strong> hovered near <strong>$100 per barrel<\/strong>, keeping investors cautious about long-term price pressures.<\/p>\n<h2>Semiconductor and Tech Earnings<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Micron Technology (<a href=\"\/stock\/MU\">MU<\/a>)<\/strong> delivered a blockbuster earnings report, posting Q4 adjusted revenue of <strong>$54.23 billion<\/strong> against estimates of <strong>$51.49 billion<\/strong>. The company\u2019s core data center revenue of <strong>$18.00 billion<\/strong> crushed expectations of <strong>$11.34 billion<\/strong>, driven by relentless demand for AI-related hardware.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsys (<a href=\"\/stock\/SNPS\">SNPS<\/a>)<\/strong> also provided a bullish outlook during its 2026 Investor Day, forecasting <strong>FY2027 revenue<\/strong> between <strong>$11.10 billion and $11.20 billion<\/strong>. The company expects mid-teens revenue growth through 2030 and announced plans to repurchase <strong>$1 billion<\/strong> in shares over the coming months.<\/p>\n<h2>AI Developments and Corporate Shifts<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Google (<a href=\"\/stock\/GOOGL\">GOOGL<\/a>)<\/strong> is preparing for the launch of <strong>Gemini 4 (Argon)<\/strong>, significantly expanding the model&#39;s output capacity to <strong>1 million tokens<\/strong>. While CEO Sundar Pichai emphasized &quot;frontier safeguards,&quot; internal reports suggest some employees are concerned that the model&#39;s real-world performance in coding tasks may lag behind its benchmark scores.<\/p>\n<p>In the media sector, <strong>Paramount Global (<a href=\"\/stock\/PARA\">PARA<\/a>)<\/strong> and <strong>Skydance<\/strong> are moving forward with leadership transitions ahead of their massive tie-up with <strong>Warner Bros. Discovery (<a href=\"\/stock\/WBD\">WBD<\/a>)<\/strong>. The combined entity, which expects to see <strong>16-19% revenue growth<\/strong> in 2026, will be led by David Ellison as Chairman and CEO, with Ynon Kreiz joining as Co-CEO effective October 5, 2026.<\/p>\n<h2>Economic Outlook<\/h2>\n<p>The labor market remains a focal point for investors as companies boosted hiring in September. Market participants are now looking ahead to Friday\u2019s government employment report, which is expected to show that U.S. employers added a solid <strong>90,000 jobs<\/strong>, further signaling economic resilience despite high interest rates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Micron Technology (MU) shares surged in after-hours trading following a massive Q4 earnings beat and Q1 revenue guidance [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[5027,311,2042,3703,3709,3749,3768,3860,3871,4223],"class_list":["post-72442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-semiconductors","tag-mu","tag-snps","tag-ai","tag-fed","tag-pce","tag-googl","tag-wbd","tag-para","tag-inflation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}