Stocks On Wall Street Soar Higher After CPI Data Ahead of Fed Meeting
On Wednesday, stocks on Wall Street were higher, bolstered by a cooler than anticipated May inflation release ahead of the end of the latest policy meeting by the Federal Reserve.
The NASDAQ Composite rose 210 points, or 1.2%, the S&P 500 rose 44 points, or 0.8%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 360 points, or 0.9%.
On an annualized basis, U.S. consumer prices increased by less than expected last month, as the consumer price index rose by 3.3%, decelerating slightly from April’s 3.4%. The reading slowed from 0.3% to 0.0% month-on-month.
This data indicated a possible easing in price pressures that may affect how Federal Reserve policymakers see interest rates’ future path.
The Fed will end its two-day meeting later today and is generally expected to keep interest rates unchanged.
Markets are hoping that the Fed will flag potential rate cuts, especially after the European Central Bank started cutting rates earlier this month.
The consensus is that the Fed will only start cutting rates by Sept. as inflation expectations are still elevated and the U.S. labor market remains strong.
On Wednesday, the focus was still on the tech market and Oracle stock was 9% higher after it announced two new partnerships with Google Cloud and OpenAI.