U.S. stocks traded in a narrow range on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 slipping less than 0.1% while staying near record highs, the Dow down 113 points and the Nasdaq off 0.1%. Inflation data showed the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge held at 3.7% last month, well above the central bank’s 2% goal. Abercrombie & Fitch surged 35.7% after posting quarterly earnings above expectations, while Smucker rose 4.3% on results that topped forecasts but later fell 3.2% after its profit-growth outlook for the next fiscal year missed analysts’ estimates.

Nvidia is set to report fiscal second-quarter results after the close on Aug. 26, with attention on whether its revenue can sustain rapid growth. Over the past 12 months, the company generated $119 billion in free cash flow, up 54% year over year, and posted gross margins near 75%. Nvidia is also in talks to invest in AI search platform Perplexity AI at a $30 billion valuation, up from $20 billion last year. Perplexity’s annualized revenue has risen this year from $250 million to more than $750 million.

Chicago wheat futures surged on Wednesday, briefly reaching the 45-cent daily limit, after reports said Russia is looking to escalate the Black Sea conflict with Ukraine. The development fueled concerns that wheat export flows from the region could be constrained in the near term. Separately, EU soft wheat exports fell to 2.38 MMT for the July 1 to August 23 period, according to the European Commission.

Beijing AI startup Moonshot is looking to push its Kimi K3 model into the U.S. market and is discussing revenue-sharing arrangements tied to K3 services on Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. The company is seeking as much as 30% of the revenue generated from those services, Reuters reported. Kimi K3 has 2.8 trillion parameters and has posted strong results in independent evaluations, but its heavy computing needs make in-house deployment difficult for many enterprises. The proposed split is broadly in line with terms Moonshot has discussed with other large customers.

December arabica coffee futures fell 4.35% and November robusta coffee futures slipped 2.30%, with both contracts hitting one-week lows. Brazil’s Cooxupe cooperative said 87.5% of its harvest was complete as of Aug 21, up 6 points from the prior week. Safras & Mercado reported that Brazil’s 2026/27 coffee harvest was 90% completed as of Aug 12. Expectations for larger Brazilian supplies weighed on prices.

Broadcom’s management expects AI semiconductor revenue to exceed $100 billion in fiscal 2027, a sharp step up from the $56 billion it is forecasting for fiscal 2026. In fiscal 2026’s second quarter, the company posted $10.8 billion in AI semiconductor revenue, up 143% year over year.

The FTSE 100 rose 10 points to 10896, while the three main US stock indexes edged lower. The US core PCE price index rose 3.3% year on year in July, in line with expectations. Meta agreed to pay about $16.7 billion to settle claims over product design, and Abercrombie & Fitch shares surged after it raised guidance. Investors are waiting for Nvidia’s earnings and US inflation data.

Europe’s surge in energy prices after the Iran conflict disrupted supply has revived inflation worries. Data show European gas storage is only about 63%, leaving policymakers and bond investors more focused on rising natural gas prices than higher crude futures. A sharp jump in gas prices could add to inflation and push the European Central Bank toward more rate hikes than markets expect, after its first increase in June and with another move anticipated in September.