U.S. stocks rose Thursday after a key inflation reading showed slightly less year-over-year inflation growth than expected.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 202 points, or 0.6%. The S&P 500 climbed 0.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.8%.
July consumer prices gained 3.2% on an annual basis, less than the 3.3% consensus from economists polled by Dow Jones. On a month-to-month basis, inflation increased 0.2%, in-line with estimates. The report also said real average weekly earnings were unchanged last month in another positive sign.
“Overall, this builds on the market’s expectations around a potential soft landing,” said Michelle Culver, portfolio strategist at Global X, adding that the reading was also “encouraging” for the Fed.
Still, the report had some signs of sticky inflation. Excluding food and energy, the so-called core July CPI reading was up 4.7% on an annual basis, far above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. And headline inflation was above the 3% annual rate in June.
Meanwhile, Disney gained 2% after announcing an upcoming price hike for ad-free Disney+ subscriptions. The media giant also reported fiscal third-quarter earnings per share that beat expectations. But Six Flags slid 2.6% following a worse-than-anticipated report.
More than 90% of S&P 500 companies have reported earnings for the quarter as of Thursday morning. Of those, about four-fifths have beat Wall Street expectations, according to FactSet,
The moves followed another down session on Wall Street. The Dow dropped about 191 points, or 0.54%, while the S&P 500 shaved off 0.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite shed 1.17%.
