Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch, our afternoon update on today's market action, news, and analysis.

Good afternoon. Today is Wednesday, May 13th, and I'm your host, Kim Con. Top story so far.

Sticky inflation alarms sounded this morning as wholesale prices posted their biggest monthly jump since the height of the post-COVID surge.

The April producer price index rose 1.4% month-over-month, well above the 0.5% consensus. March was

revised up to 0.7. On a year-over-year basis, PPI climbed 6%, the largest annual increase since

December 2022. Much of April's increase came from services, which rose 1.2%,

with trade services accounting for a significant share.

Margins for machinery and equipment wholesaling jumped 3.5%.

Core PPI, which excludes food and energy, increased 1% for the month,

lifting the annual rate to 5.2%.

Pantheon macro noted one potential offset for policymakers,

two key components that feed into core PCE, portfolio management, and air transportation,

were relatively soft. Fed swap traders appeared to focus on that nuance, with the odds of a rate hike

by year-end, easing slightly, though markets still see rates higher at the end of 2027 than they are

today.

The big picture is that the inflation data are uncomfortably hot for the FOMC right now,

Pantheon said, adding that while tariff effects have largely passed through and rent inflation

is expected to cool, the recent run of data remains above the Fed's 2% target.

Among active stocks, Nebius is rallying after reporting a near sevenfold jump in revenue,

driven by surging AI demand. CEO, R.K.D. Volosh, said the company continues to see

unprecedented demand for compute. Alibaba posted 11% like-for-like revenue growth in Q4,

but profitability fell as higher AI spending and Quick Commerce subsidies compressed margins.

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