04:50 PM EST, 12/11/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes closed mixed on Thursday as Oracle's (ORCL) quarterly results hurt technology and communication services shares, offsetting the impact of a dovish lean in monetary policy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1.3% to 48,704.01, and the S&P 500 rose 0.2% to 6,901.00. The Nasdaq Composite declined 0.3% to 23,593.86. On Wednesday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq led gains in the trio after the Federal Reserve's policy announcements.

Five Magnificent-7 stocks were down in the final leg of trading after Oracle's fiscal Q2 results helped revive valuation and circular funding concerns. Oracle's fiscal Q2 sales missed revenue expectations, as it reported a negative free cash flow of $10 billion and guided a $15 billion increase in its fiscal 2026 capital expenditure forecast. Shares sank 11%, the worst performer on the S&P 500.

Oracle shares slumped as "softer cloud revenue and heavy AI data-center spending raised questions about debt-funded expansion," according to a note from Saxo Bank. "The latter helped change the mood in the market towards a more defensive stance."

On Wednesday, the Fed cut rates by 25 basis points, the updated Summary of Economic Projections signalled one more reduction next year, and Chair Jerome Powell said no hikes are currently on the policymakers' agenda.

Materials, financials, and healthcare were among the top gainers toward the end of the trading session. The Russell 2000 index, which represents smaller companies, reached an all-time high, and the iShares Russell Mid-Cap ETF (IWR) also broke its most recent record.

Tony Sycamore of IG said traders had expected the Fed to repeat the hawkish tone from October but instead received signals that support risk-asset rallies into the end of the year, The Economic Times reported. In the same news report, Nick Rees, head of macro research at Monex Europe, said the Fed commentary leaned toward "dovish," encouraging investors to short the dollar.

US Treasury yields extended losses, with the two-year down 2.7 basis points to 3.54% intraday. The 10-year yield leaned lower to 4.15%

Reflecting the lower rates trajectory, gold futures surged 2% to $4,306.92, and silver futures catapulted 5% to $64.03. The ICE US Dollar Index, which reflects the greenback's performance against a basket of the world's major currencies, depreciated 0.5% to 98.34.

Meanwhile, in economic news, initial jobless claims climbed by 44,000 to 236,000 during the week ended Dec. 6, the Department of Labor said Thursday. The consensus in a Bloomberg-compiled poll was 220,000. The previous week's reading was revised up by 1,000 to 192,000.

"Our view is the labor market will remain soft until tariff pass-through is complete, and we look for cuts in January and April," Morgan Stanley said in a note. "If that does not materialize because the employment data are fairly solid, then Fed cuts will come when inflation clearly decelerates."

In H1, the highest probability of a 25-basis-point rate cut is in March, according to the CME FedWatch tool. Traders are also pricing in a likelihood of two more reductions in H2.