NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are ticking higher following an encouraging update on inflation. The S&P 500 rose 0.4% in early trading Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 163 points, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% higher. The gains came after a report showed inflation at the wholesale level wasn’t as high last month as expected. Stubbornly high readings on inflation and a run of better-than-expected reports on the U.S. economy have sent Wall Street into a weekslong rut by causing markets to pull back on their hopes for more interest rate cuts. KB Home jumped after delivering results that beat forecasts.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Wall Street pointed modestly higher early Tuesday ahead of new data on inflation and the kickoff to earnings season.
Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average each ticked up 0.3% before the bell.
KB Homes jumped more than 9% in premarket after the homebuilder beat Wall Street's fourth-quarter sales and profit targets as revenue grew 19% to $2 billion in the period. Even as mortgage rates remain elevated, KB said expects strong demand to push 2025 revenue above $7 billion.
Signet Jewelers tumbled more than 11% early Tuesday after it reported a decline in same store sales during the peak selling days leading up to Christmas. The retailer significantly slashed its guidance for the fourth quarter.
Shares of the mobile stock trading platform Robinhood rose less than 1% after government regulators announced on Monday that the company had agreed to pay a $45 million fine for a handful of violations, including lackadaisical reporting of suspicious activity and weak identity theft protection policies.
On Wednesday, a host of big U.S. banks — including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo — release their latest quarterly financial results.
Stocks have been under pressure the last month, as traders reduce expectations for how much relief the Federal Reserve may deliver this year through lower interest rates.
Rate cuts can give the economy a boost, and the U.S. stock market repeatedly hit record highs last year on the assumption that more are coming after the Fed began lowering rates in September. But inflation has remained stubbornly above the Fed’s 2% target, and recent economic data suggest a still-solid U.S. economy doesn’t need much help. Questions are growing about whether the Fed will deliver even a single cut in 2025. That's after the officials at the U.S. central bank in early December cut their forecast for 2025 rate cuts from four to two.
The government releases its latest data on inflation at the wholesale level Tuesday, followed by its December report on inflation at the consumer level on Wednesday. Both reports could give investors some clues about the Fed's position on future interest rate policy.
In Europe at midday, France's CAC 40 rose 0.9%, while Germany's DAX rose 0.7%. Britain's FTSE 100 was essentially unchanged.
In Asian trading, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 1.8% to finish at 38,474.30 following a holiday on Monday.
Japan’s Finance Ministry reported that the surplus in the current account, a measure of the country’s foreign exchanges in goods, services and investments, rose to 3.4 trillion yen ($21 billion) in November, up 54.5% from the same month the previous year.
“After a holiday break, Japan’s markets are playing catch-up following last week’s market selloff,” said Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.8% to 19,219.78, while the Shanghai Composite surged 2.5% to 3,240.94. The smaller market in Shenzhen jumped 4.2%.
Markets were lifted by a pledge by the China Securities Regulatory Commission to make every effort to sustain a stable recovery of the securities market, as it outlined key priorities for 2025.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.5% to 8,231.00. South Korea’s Kospi edged up 0.3% to 2,497.40.
Benchmark U.S. crude lost 16 cents to $78.66 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 26 cents to $80.75 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar edged up to 157.89 Japanese yen from 157.48 yen. The euro cost $1.0246, down from $1.0245.
Bitcoin is bouncing back this week after falling nearly 6% in the past month. The crypto currency is up 3% Tuesdsay.
Yuri Kageyama And Matt Ott, The Associated Press