Oracle, D.R. Horton, Casey’s General Stores, and More

U.S. equities were higher at midday after a softer-than-expected inflation report, raising optimism the Federal Reserve can cut interest rates. The S&P 500 reached a record high, while the Dow and Nasdaq also rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note sank.

The possibility of lower borrowing costs helped send shares of D.R. Horton (DHI) and rival home builders higher.

Rentokil Initial (RTO) American depositary receipts (ADRs) also soared following reports Nelson Peltz’s Trian Partners has taken a large stake in the British pest control firm.

Oracle (ORCL) shares surged to an all-time high, leading S&P 500 gains on the company’s cloud infrastructure deals with Microsoft (MSFT), OpenAI, and Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Google Cloud for artificial intelligence (AI) data centers.

Casey’s General Stores (CASY) shares also reached a record high as the convenience store and gas station operator beat profit and sales estimates, posted strong full-year guidance, and boosted its dividend on higher food and drink sales.

Exelon (EXC) shares dropped after Maryland regulators rejected the utility’s rate hike proposal, allowing less than 40% of what it requested.

Shares of Elevance Health (ELV) fell when the health insurer gave an update to its full-year earnings outlook. 

Oil and gold futures advanced. The U.S. dollar lost ground to the euro, pound, and yen. Prices for most major cryptocurrencies jumped.