Wall Street hits record highs, Dow Jones above 46,000 points for first time ever

US stock indexes climbed to fresh record highs on Thursday after the release of key inflation data, which, despite showing an increase, did not deter investors from expecting the Federal Reserve to cut rates this month.

Government data released in the United States today showed the consumer price index (CPI) rising by 0.4% in August, above forecasts of 0.3%. The annual reading came in at 2.9%, in line with expectations.

Excluding volatile items such as food and energy, core CPI rose by 0.3% month-on-month and 3.1% year-on-year, both consistent with forecasts.

This followed producer price index (PPI) data showing an unexpected 0.1% decline and a 2.6% year-on-year increase.

Additional data revealed that weekly jobless claims jumped by 27,000 last week to 263,000, exceeding expectations of 235,000.

Despite this data, market expectations remain that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by 25 basis points at its September 17 meeting, according to the CME FedWatch tool, while traders slightly raised bets on a larger 50-basis-point cut.

In trading, by 16:38 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1.3% (573 points) to 46,064. The broader S&P 500 index gained 0.8% (50 points) to 6,582, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.7% (148 points) to 22,034.