Newzstock market is ticking toward an all-time high Thursday following the latest sign that inflation is getting less bad. Stocks also got a lift from easing oil prices in their latest yo-yo move.The S&P 500 climbed 0.5% and was on track to top its record set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 123 points, or 0.2%, as of 11:30 a.m.
Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% higher.Wall Street relaxed after a report showed prices at the U.S. wholesale level were 4.7% higher last month than a year earlier. While that’s still very high, it’s not as bad as June’s 5.5% inflation rate at the wholesale level, and it was slightly better than economists expected.If inflation continues to trend that way, the Federal Reserve could decide to hold off on hikes to interest rates.
Higher rates would help keep a lid on inflation, but they do so by intentionally slowing the economy and making it more expensive for everyone to borrow money.Fed officials are split on whether they should have already begun hiking interest rates. But Thursday’s report, following a similar update on inflation at the U.S. consumer level the day before, has traders now betting on just a 34% chance that the Fed will raise rates at its next meeting in September.
That’s down from the roughly 50% probability seen two days ago, according to data from CME Group.Any increase by the Fed would be the first in more than three years. It also could anger President Donald Trump, who has been lobbying for lower interest rates.Treasury yields sank in the bond market, which eases pressure on stocks and other investments. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.64% from 4.68% late Wednesday and from 4.72% on Monday, though it’s still well above its 3.97% level from before the war with Iran sent oil and gasoline prices surging.Oil prices eased back on Thursday, helping to limit worries about inflation.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil fell 1.1% to $88.03.It’s been swinging sharply recently and pinballed between $72 and $102 last month as hopes rose and fell that a deal in the war could allow oil tankers to freely exit the Middle East again and deliver crude worldwide.On Wall Street, stocks in the real-estate industry helped lead the way. When interest rates are lower and bonds are paying less in yield, the dividends that many real-estate investment trusts pay … stock market is rising toward an all-time high on Thursday following the latest sign that inflation is getting less bad.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 185 points, or 0.3%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1% higher.Wall Street relaxed after a report showed prices at the U.S. consumer level the day before, have traders now betting on just a 35% chance that the Fed will raise rates at its next meeting in September.
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