US STOCKS-Wall St mixed in choppy trade as investors assess inflation data

Dell Technologies, which sells AI-optimized servers made with Nvidia's high-end processors, rose 1.2% ahead of its report after the bell. Traders added to bets that the Fed will cut rates in June after a Commerce Department report showed U.S. prices picked up in January in line with expectations amid strong gains in the costs of services, while the annual increase in inflation was the smallest in three years.

The S&P 500 rose on Thursday, lifted by Nvidia and other technology stocks linked to AI, while investors assessed inflation data and Federal Reserve officials' comments to gauge when the central bank might begin cutting interest rates.

Heavyweight chipmaker Nvidia climbed 1.9%, while smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices surged over 7%. Those and other technology companies have been at the heart of a Wall Street rally in recent months, fueled by optimism about artificial intelligence. Dell Technologies, which sells AI-optimized servers made with Nvidia's high-end processors, rose 1.2% ahead of its report after the bell.

Traders added to bets that the Fed will cut rates in June after a Commerce Department report showed U.S. prices picked up in January in line with expectations amid strong gains in the costs of services, while the annual increase in inflation was the smallest in three years. "It's not a dramatic decline, but inflation is moving in the right direction and that gives investors a little bit of cover to feel a little bit confident about stepping into the stock market," said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth.

Atlanta Fed President and voting member Raphael Bostic stressed taking data-dependent approach to monetary policy, saying it was going to be a bumpy path to the Fed's 2% inflation target. Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Austan Goolsbee said on Thursday he believed there was still room for increases in labor supply to bring down inflation further.

Reports on consumer and producer prices earlier in February, which signaled sticky inflation, had led investors to push back expectations of rate cuts to June. At the beginning of this year, traders were betting on March as the starting point for the Fed's easing cycle. Meanwhile, initial jobless claims for the week ended Feb. 24 stood at 215,000, greater than expectations of 210,000, economists polled by Reuters said.

The S&P 500 was up 0.34% at 5,087.08 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.62% to 16,046.38 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.07% at 38,923.00 points.

With February nearly over, all three major Wall Street indexes were on track for their fourth straight monthly advance, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq in the lead, thanks to robust quarterly earnings and optimism around AI. Of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, eight rose, led by real estate, up 1.21%, followed by a 0.82% gain in information technology.

Keeping the Dow in negative territory, Boeing fell 1.8% after a report of a probe by the Department of Justice. Snowflake slumped nearly 20% after the cloud data analytics company forecast first-quarter product revenue below Wall Street estimates and said CEO Frank Slootman was retiring.

Paramount Global climbed about 1% after the media conglomerate posted a surprise profit on streaming gains. The U.S. House of Representatives was set to vote on a bill to avert a partial government shutdown.

Advancing issues outnumbered falling ones within the S&P 500 by a 1.9-to-one ratio. The S&P 500 posted 56 new highs and one new low. The Nasdaq recorded 131 new highs and 48 new lows.