US S&P 500 Index

The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% overnight, even after the International Energy Agency announced it would release 400 million barrels of oil from reserves, the largest coordinated release on record, to help offset supply disruptions caused by the war. On the economic front, CPI rose a tame 2.4% year-on-year in February, with the report arriving as signs of a cooling labour market continue to emerge. On the stock front, Oracle (ORCL US) was the standout, advancing ~9% after reporting strong AI cloud sales that suggest ongoing strong demand for AI computing – revenue in ORCL’s closely watched infrastructure business jumped 84% to $US4.9bn in the three months ending February 28^th.

• The S&P appears to be slowly but surely heading down towards technical support around 6500, or ~4% lower.