US markets end higher on Tuesday

13 Mar 2024 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Tuesday with Nasdaq settling over one and half percent. The strength on markets reflected a positive reaction to the Labor Department's highly anticipated report on consumer price inflation in the month of February. The Labor Department said its consumer price index climbed by 0.4 percent in February after rising by 0.3 percent in January. The increase matched street estimates. Excluding food and energy prices, core consumer prices also rose by 0.4 percent in February, matching the increase seen in January. Economists had expected core prices to rise by 0.3 percent. The report also said the annual rate of consumer price growth ticked up to 3.2 percent in February from 3.1 percent in January. The year-over-year growth was expected to be unchanged.

Meanwhile, the annual rate of core consumer price growth slowed to 3.8 percent in February from 3.9 percent in January. Street had expected the pace of growth to decelerate to 3.7 percent. While core price growth slowed by slightly less than expected, the slowdown still seems to have added to optimism about the Federal Reserve lowering interest rates in June. on the sectoral front, Software stocks saw substantial strength on the day, resulting in a 2.6 percent surge by the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index. Oracle (ORCL) led the sector higher, soaring by 11.8 percent after reporting better than expected fiscal third quarter earnings and strong cloud revenue growth. Semiconductor stocks also showed a significant move back to the upside, driving the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up by 2.1 percent.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 235.83 points or 0.61 percent to 39,005.49, Nasdaq surged 246.36 points or 1.54 percent to 16,265.64 and S&P 500 was up by 57.33 points or 1.12 percent to 5,175.27. 


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