Wall Street climbs after inflation data, with NASDAQ and S&P at record highs

US stock indices rose on Wednesday with both NASDAQ and S&P 500 scaling fresh record highs following US inflation data, which stoked expectations of a Fed interest rate cut in the summer. 

US consumer prices rose 3.4% y/y in April, down from 3.5% in March.

Core prices rose 3.6% y/y in April, down from 3.8% in March, marking the lowest rate since April 2021. 

On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.3% in April, down from 0.4% in March. 

This a huge decline from the peak of 9.1% scaled in June 2022. 

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said he expects US inflation to decline in upcoming months, which was taken as a sign of impending policy easing. 

However, Powell cautioned he’s still not completely confident about the estimates, although he did rule out another rate cut given the recent data. 

According to the Fedwatch tool, there’s a 51.7% chance of a Fed rate cut in September, up from 44.9% yesterday.

On trading, Dow Jones rose 0.6% as of 16:59 GMT, or 233 points to 39,791, while S&P 500 rose 0.8%, or 42 points to 5288, as NASDAQ added 0.9%, or 154 points to 16,665.