The S&P 500 gained 0.46 per cent to finish at 4,643.70, the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 173.01 points, or 0.48 per cent, to 36,577.94 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.70 per cent to 14,533.40
Stocks jumped for a fourth session on Tuesday as Wall Street parsed through another round of inflation data in search for clues on when the Fed could start easing monetary policy.
The S&P 500 gained 0.46 per cent to finish at 4,643.70, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 173.01 points, or 0.48 per cent, to 36,577.94. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.70 per cent to 14,533.40.
All three major indexes hit new intraday 52-week highs on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 reaching its highest intraday level since January 2022. The tech-heavy Nasdaq and Dow hit their highest intraday levels since April and January of last year, respectively.
The consumer price index increased 3.1 per cent in November year over year and 0.1 per cent month over month. Economists polled by Dow Jones forecast a 3.1 per cent annual rise. Month over month, they expected consumer price index to remain flat. Excluding food and energy, inflation increased in accordance with economists’ expectations.
The report comes as investors try to close a strong year on a high note. The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite have six straight weeks of gains.
Bulls and bears each have their talking points about the (November) CPI, but the fact of the matter was that the figure was very consistent with expectations, and thus changes little, said Adam Crisafulli, founder and president of Vital Knowledge. The consensus mindset seems eager for a buyable pullback (as underinvested people would like to deploy sidelined capital) which is likely why one does not seem to be happening.
Traders will now turn their attention to the Fed’s policy announcement, slated for Wednesday at 7:00 pm GMT. Wall Street largely expects the central bank to hold rates steady. Nonetheless, they will parse through Chair Jerome Powell’s commentary for signals of when rate cuts could come.
