Highlights
Major stock indexes were flat to slightly higher Wednesday after a seemingly benign US inflation report. The Dow Jones industrial average was unchanged, the S&P 500 firmed 0.3 percent, and the Nasdaq gained 0.5 percent. US bond yields declined, the dollar rose, while oil prices edged down.
News that consumer prices rose 0.1 percent on the month, and 0.2 percent for core consumer prices, in line with expectations, came as a relief to investors who were bracing for nastier inflation figures that might have prodded the Federal Reserve to raise rates starting in September. Wednesday’s outcome suggested that the Fed would need more bad inflation news before it would be obliged to move -- but it left the door open for rate increases this year.
With the overhang of the CPI report out of the way, many traders went back to focusing on the AI momentum trade, which outperformed the market, paced by chipmakers and other AI shares. Other megacaps including Amazon, Meta, and Tesla, had a bad day to restrain the Nasdaq.
Oil prices were relatively flat on a day lacking major developments in the Middle East, even as the picture remained bleak for traders hoping for progress toward reopening of oil and other commodity flows from the Middle East.