US markets end mostly in green on Wednesday

11 May 2023 Evaluate

The US markets ended mostly in green on Wednesday amid a positive reaction to the Labor Department's highly anticipated report on consumer price inflation in the month of April. The Labor Department said its consumer price index climbed by 0.4 percent in April after inching up by 0.1 percent in March. Street had expected consumer prices to rise by 0.4 percent. Excluding food and energy prices, core consumer prices also rose by 0.4 percent in April, matching the increase seen in March as well as street estimates. The report also showed the annual rate of consumer price growth edged down to 4.9 percent in April from 5.0 percent in March. Street had expected the year-over-year growth to be unchanged. The annual rate of core consumer price growth also slipped to 5.5 percent in April from 5.6 percent in March. The modest slowdown matched street estimates. With the annual consumer price growth marking the smallest 12-month increase since April 2021, the data added to optimism about the Federal Reserve pausing its interest rate hikes.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 99.1 percent chance the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates unchanged at its next meeting in June. Buying interest was somewhat subdued, however, as traders worry the slowdown in the pace of price growth is partly due to the U.S. heading for a recession. On the sectoral front, Software stocks turned in a strong performance on the day, resulting in a 1.7 percent jump by the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index. With the gain, the index reached its best closing level in over a year. Semiconductor and biotechnology stocks also saw notable strength, contributing to the advance by the tech-heavy Nasdaq. On the other hand, steel stocks saw considerable weakness amid concerns about global demand, dragging the NYSE Arca Steel Index down by 1.4 percent. Oil service stocks also moved to the downside, with a steep drop by the price of oil weighing on the sector following the release of a report showing an unexpected weekly increase in U.S. crude oil inventories

Nasdaq surged 126.89 points or 1.04 percent to 12,306.44 and S&P 500 was up by 18.47 points or 0.45 percent to 4,137.64, while Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 30.48 points or 0.09 percent to 33,531.33.


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