S&P 500 and Nasdaq Slide After September CPI Tops Estimates and BofA Posts $1.2B Charge

Wall Street fell Wednesday after September's Consumer Price Index came in hotter than expected, reigniting concerns about Federal Reserve rate policy. The CPI rose 3.7% year over year, above the 3.6% economists had forecast, and climbed 0.6% on the month. Core CPI advanced 0.3% month over month and 2.6% annually, each slightly above consensus. Higher energy and gasoline costs were the primary driver, marking the fastest pace of consumer price inflation since April. The data pushed Treasury yields higher and reduced market expectations for a Fed pause at its next meeting.

The S&P 500 fell 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.9%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average held up better, slipping just 0.1%, supported by gains in healthcare names such as UnitedHealth and Amgen.

Bank of America reported third-quarter 2026 results on the same day, posting net income of $8.1 billion and diluted EPS of $1.08. Results were weighed down by a $1.2 billion regulatory settlement charge in noninterest expense, which reduced EPS by $0.17 per share. Adjusted EPS came to $0.91. The bank's CET1 capital ratio stood at 10.9%, and it repurchased $6 billion in common stock during the quarter.

Enterprise technology stocks were hit hard in pre-market trading. Hewlett Packard Enterprise fell between 3.65% and 4.08%, trading near $66.30, while NetApp dropped between 3.14% and 4.19% to roughly $231.50, and Dell Technologies slid 2.64% to $557.33 amid volatility in hardware and server components. Micron edged lower by 1.11% to $942.50 on elevated volume following memory sector price recalibrations. AI-focused neocloud stocks also came under pressure: IREN fell 4% to $44.09, CoreWeave declined 3% to $87.18, and Nebius Group slipped roughly 2% to near $238. Alibaba moved in the opposite direction, gaining 1.54% pre-market on positive sentiment across Chinese technology ADRs.