12:28 PM EDT, 03/14/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark stock indexes declined and government bond yields jumped after midday Thursday following a hotter-than-expected wholesale price inflation in February.

The S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 5,150.9, with the Nasdaq Composite down 0.3% to 16,126.8 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.2% lower at 38,983.2. Barring communication services and energy, all the other sectors declined intraday. Real estate and utilities were the worst performers.

The US 10-year Treasury yield jumped 9 basis points to 4.28%, and the two-year advanced 7.4 basis points to 4.7%.

In economic news, the US Producer Price Index rose by 0.6% in February following a 0.3% increase in January, above the 0.3% gain expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. After excluding food and energy prices, core PPI increased by 0.3%, above the 0.2% gain expected and following a 0.5% gain in the previous month.

US retail sales rose by 0.6% in February, versus the 0.8% increase expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg and following the previous month's 1.1% decline.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 1.7% to $81.09 per barrel intraday.

In company news, Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Oracle (ORCL) said Thursday they are adding five more regions to their database collaboration, bringing the total planned multi-cloud availability footprint to 15 globally. Shares of Microsoft ( MSFT ) jumped 2.2% intraday, the top gainer on the S&P 500, the Nasdaq, and the Dow.

Gold for April delivery on the Comex fell 1% to $2,159.1 per troy ounce. Silver dropped 0.6% to $25 per troy ounce.