US Stock Markets Today: S&P 500, Dow Jones Surge As Inflation Data Boosts Fed Rate Cut Bets

The main Wall Street indices rose on Friday after latest consumer price index data indicated that Federal Reserve could cut rates this year.

Minutes into the trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 228 points or 0.5%, S&P 500 rose over 0.64%, and Nasdaq Composite was up 0.87%.

The September CPI inflation rose 0.3%, taking the annual inflation rate to 3%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In addition, the headline inflation rate marked an uptick from 2.9% seen in August. The CPI data could pave the way for the US Fed to cut rates in the meeting next week.

“Nothing in the inflation print should stop the Fed from cutting rates next week. Yes, prices are higher, but not enough to keep them from helping the economy,” Scott Helfstein at Global X told Bloomberg.

“When the markets are hungry for data, any tidbit might look like fine dining. Such is the case as we awaited the delayed CPI report to consider what, if any impact it might have on the Fed’s decision next week. The expectation is for the Fed to cut rates, so it would take a material upside surprise to alter course,” Steve Wyett at BOK Financial told Bloomberg.

In the early minutes of trading, nine of the 11 sectoral indices were trading in green. Information technology and communication services led the advance, while materials and healthcare were the sectors in red.

Procter & Gamble Co., Nvidia, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Salesforce Inc. were amongst the gainers for the day. On the other hand, Tesla Inc. and Coca-Cola Co. were in the red.

As the US market opened, spot gold fell 0.4% to $4,110.59 an ounce. Crude oil prices rose, with the West Texas trading 0.3% higher at $61.96 per barrel.

The Bloomberg Dollar Index was little changed, with the British Pound rising 0.2% at $1.3357 and the Japanese yen at 152.64 per dollar.

Bitcoin, the largest traded cryptocurrency was up 1.7% at $1,11,449.47.