US: Stocks rise again ahead of inflation data

WALL Street stocks rose for a second straight session on Tuesday (Jul 11) ahead of a key US inflation report that will affect the odds of further Federal Reserve interest rate increases.

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note – viewed as a proxy for Fed policy – edged below four per cent. Futures markets expect the Fed to hike interest rates on Jul 26.

Cresset Capital’s Jack Ablin said the equity market’s gains suggest investors were “positioning” for a favourable inflation report on Wednesday.

But Oanda’s Edward Moya cautioned that “sticky inflation signs will likely remain” even if the report shows further moderation in prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.9 per cent at 34,261.42.

The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.7 per cent to 4,439.26, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.6 per cent to 13,760.70.

Analysts have suggested the breadth of the market rally, which goes beyond technology shares to industrials and other sectors, could indicate the market might have more upside in the period ahead.

Among individual companies, Activision Blizzard surged 10 per cent after a federal judge rejected a request by the Federal Trade Commission to halt its sale to Microsoft to allow for an investigation on competition concerns.

The judge’s ruling handed a major victory to Microsoft and allowed it to close its purchase of Activision, the maker of Call of Duty and Candy Crush, as planned on Jul 18. Microsoft added 0.2 per cent.

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US: US stocks open higher ahead of inflation numbers

Boeing jumped 2.6 per cent after reporting that it delivered 48 of its 737 MAX planes in June, recovering from a supply chain problem earlier in the year that had slowed the cadence of deliveries. AFP