Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell on Wednesday, while Nasdaq-100 futures rose, led by gains in chipmaker names, as traders reacted to the release of another hotter-than-expected inflation report. Futures linked to the Dow shed 261 points, or 0.5%. Futures tied to the S&P 500 were down 0.1%, while Nasdaq-100 futures popped 0.3%. Nvidia shares traded higher by more than 1% in the premarket. Advanced Micro Devices climbed 1%, while Micron Technology gained more than 4%. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) advanced 1%. The move comes after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang joined President Donald Trump on his trip to China to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping. “His last-minute addition to Trump’s China trip has reignited investor interest in tech stocks following the Tuesday slump amid hope for an H200 breakthrough,” wrote Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge. “That the CEO of the world’s largest company is accompanying the president of his country on a critical geopolitical trip shouldn’t be surprising to anyone, and it’s hardly a reason to dive back into chip stocks, but that sector hasn’t exactly been behaving in a rational fashion of late.” Semiconductor stocks have been on a tear of late, leading the broader market back to record highs, amid renewed enthusiasm in the artificial intelligence trade. To be sure, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq slipped from all-time highs on Tuesday following the release of hotter-than-expected U.S. consumer inflation data. On Wednesday, the producer price index rose 1.4% in April. That was much more than the 0.5% increase that economists polled by Dow Jones were expecting. On an annual basis, wholesale inflation gained 6% in April — the biggest since December 2022. That figure was above the 4.9% consensus estimate. Even as tech took a breather on Tuesday, the artificial intelligence trade has, overall, still been the market’s dominant driver this year. Olaolu Aganga, head of portfolio construction at Citi Wealth, believes that AI spending expanding outside of the tech sector leaves room for investors to buy into other opportunities in the market. “We have global views that we think are lasting and enduring, so energy security and infrastructure — those companies that can benefit from the capex spending with regards to energy and the grid and energy independence,” she said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” on Tuesday afternoon. “So if you’ve missed this particular wave, there are some themes that we believe will be playing out over time, frankly, that we need to focus on, that we think we have durable earnings there as well.” U.S. Treasury yields were relatively unchanged on Wednesday as investors digested the implications of a hotter-than-expected April inflation reading and awaited the release of another inflation report later in the morning — April’s producer price index. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note — the key benchmark for U.S. government borrowing — fell less than 1 basis point to 4.465%. The 2-year Treasury note yield, which more closely tracks short-term Federal Reserve interest rate policy, was less than 1 basis point lower at 3.988%. The longer-dated 30-year Treasury bond yield was also down less than a basis point at 5.027%. Asia-Pacific markets were mixed Wednesday as investors digested a hotter-than-expected inflation reading for April amid concerns over higher oil prices and the ongoing Middle East conflict. South Korea’s Kospi reversed losses at the start of the session to gain 2.63% at 7,844.01, while the small-cap Kosdaq slipped 0.20% at 1,176.93. Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.84% at 63,272.11, while the Topix rose 1.20% at 3,919.48. Australia’s ASX slipped 0.46% at 8,630.40. China’s CSI 300 gained 1.02%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 0.15% higher in the last hour of afternoon trade. India’s Nifty 50 added 0.56%. Oil prices eased on Wednesday, snapping a three-day rally as investors awaited developments ⁠on the fragile Middle East ceasefire and braced for a high-stakes summit in Beijing between U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping. Brent crude futures dropped ​20 cents to $107.57 ​a barrel. ​U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures fell 48 cents to $101.70. Both benchmarks have largely hovered around or above the $100 per barrel mark since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran at the end of February, after which Tehran effectively shut down the Strait of ⁠Hormuz. Gold edged lower on Wednesday after strong U.S. inflation data dampened speculation of near-term interest rate ​cuts, with investors also ​focused on an ​upcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Spot gold was down 0.4% to $4,694.59 per ounce, retreating from a three-week high hit ⁠in ‌the last session. U.S. gold futures for June delivery ⁠gained 0.3% to $4,702.40. The dollar hit a more than one-week high, making dollar-priced bullion expensive for holders of other currencies.