02:00 PM EDT, 08/13/2026 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with index/price moves and macroeconomic data from the first paragraph.)

US equity indexes traded mixed after a weak producer price inflation print lifted bets for a sixth straight monetary policy pause, while declining crude oil prices reflected demand pessimism.

The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.8% to 26,800.4, and the S&P 500 climbed 0.6% to 7,795.6 after midday Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by less than 0.1% to 53,761.2 as a sharp sell-off in Cisco ( CSCO ) weighed on the equal-weighted index. Real estate, technology and communication services topped the gainers, while materials led decliners.

Cisco ( CSCO ) slumped 8.5%, one of the worst performers in the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. The tech giant reported flat fiscal Q4 services revenue at $3.79 billion, missing the FactSet-polled consensus of $3.81 billion. On a non-GAAP basis, product gross margin fell to 64.8% from 67.5% a year ago, weighing on total gross margin.

The Producer Price Index held steady in July, following a 0.1% decrease in June, versus the 0.2% gain expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey, amid sliding energy and food prices. Energy prices fell by 3.1% in the month, with a 9.8% slide in natural gas liquids, a 6.7% slump in diesel fuel, and a 5.7% drop in gasoline prices. Excluding food and energy, core PPI climbed 0.2%, below the 0.3% gain anticipated and a 0.4% increase in June.

Annually, PPI was up 4.7% in July, and core PPI increased by 4.2%, both slowing from June.

The probability of the Federal Reserve extending its policy pause to September jumped to 66% on Thursday, from 59% a day ago and 45% a week earlier, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

US Treasury yields fell, with the 10-year yield down 4.7 basis points to 4.65% and the two-year lower by 4.8 basis points to 4.15%.

Among companies with market capitalizations exceeding $200 billion each, nine of the top 10 by returns were in the technology sector after midday Thursday, according to data compiled by Finviz. Of those nine firms, seven were related to the semiconductor industry. Sandisk ( SNDK ) was the leader of the pack, up 16%. Sandisk ( SNDK ) said it expects revenue growth in the mid-to-high-teens from fiscal 2028 through fiscal 2030.

The front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil contract dropped 1.6% to $81.97 per barrel, and global benchmark North Sea Brent declined 1.4% to $87.76 per barrel as traders weighed a downbeat demand-supply dynamic and a continuing stalemate in the Iran war.

US commercial crude oil inventories increased by a staggering 17.4 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 7, the Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report on Wednesday. On the same day, the International Energy Agency projected global demand to contract by 1.6 million barrels per day this year, steeper than the 1 million b/d drop seen last month.

The Strait of Hormuz is "under Iran's control and management," the recently appointed head of Iran's Basij paramilitary unit said Thursday, a day after US President Donald Trump said the US had "total control" of the waterway, Reuters reported.

Gold futures slid 0.9% to $4,428.7, and silver futures fell 0.9% to $65.10.