U.S. consumers faced an accelerated inflation rate of 4.1% last month, a figure that rose from 3.8% in April. This upward transfer of cost burdens onto the working class occurred as major technology firms reported significant gains in profit and revenue, driving a mixed close in the U.S. stock market on Thursday.
Corporations like Apple simultaneously raised prices on their products by as much as 20%.
Apple, a dominant force in the technology sector, increased prices for many of its products, with Mac computers seeing hikes of 15% to 20%, according to analysts.
Following these price increases, Apple's stock slumped 4.5%, representing the single heaviest weight on the S&P 500 index.
Conversely, Micron Technology, a memory chip company, reported much stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts had anticipated.
This surge in surplus extraction led to a 16.6% jump in Micron Technology's stock, which had already seen a 267% increase so far this year.
Qualcomm, another key player in the tech industry, announced late Wednesday that the acceleration of the artificial intelligence (AI) era is compelling it to upgrade its growth forecasts for upcoming years.
Qualcomm now expects its revenue outside of handsets, including data centers, to reach $40 billion in its fiscal year of 2029, roughly doubling its prior target.
Qualcomm’s stock rose 6.9% on this projection of future capital accumulation.
Corporate Extraction and Consumer Burden
The broader U.S. stock market experienced a mixed day, with the S&P 500 slipping less than 0.1% after swinging between gains and losses.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%, while the Nasdaq composite fell 0.5%.
These fluctuations in capital valuation occurred against a backdrop of rising consumer costs.
The report indicating accelerated inflation for U.S. consumers also noted that the broad U.S. stock market received a lift from easing Treasury yields in the bond market.
These yields regressed after the report suggested inflation was behaving as economists expected, despite the actual acceleration in consumer prices.
High yields in bond markets globally, fueled by worries about inflation, are threatening to slow economies.
These high yields have already resulted in increased rates for mortgages and other types of loans, directly impacting the financial stability of working families and the economically dispossessed.
Such conditions also depress prices for investments, particularly those considered most expensive, thereby increasing pressure on the so-called "AI winners" who have seen their valuations soar.
The State's Economic Management
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 2% to $75.36 on Thursday.
However, this price remains well below its highs above $100, which were caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to a war that slowed the global flow of oil.
Earlier on Thursday, oil prices had dropped near their roughly $72 price from before the war, illustrating the volatile impact of geopolitical conflicts on global commodity markets and, consequently, on consumer energy costs.
Brian Jacobsen, chief economic strategist at Annex Wealth Management, articulated the prevailing view among capital managers, stating, “As long as gasoline prices trend lower, inflation expectations will likely follow suit.”
This perspective highlights how the management of inflation, a direct burden on the working class, is often framed through the lens of commodity prices rather than the structural issues of wage suppression and corporate profit-seeking.
Global Capital's Reach
In stock markets abroad, South Korea’s Kospi jumped 5.4%, driven by its own AI beneficiaries, including a 13.1% surge for SK Hynix.
Other markets also rallied, with gains of 4.6% for Japan’s Nikkei 225 and 0.7% for the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, however, was an outlier, experiencing a 1.4% drop.
These global movements underscore the interconnectedness of international capital markets, where the accumulation of wealth in one region often mirrors or influences trends in others, all while the fundamental conditions for labor remain unchanged.