© Reuters
By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com — The S&P 500 rose on Wednesday, led by consumer stocks just a day before data expected to show a further cooling of inflation in December.
They rose 1%, they gained 0.55%, or 185 points, and they rose 1.4%.
Following recent data pointing to a cooldown in inflation, including easing wage pressures seen in the December jobs report, investors are “looking for more news showing inflation heading lower in the data.” CPI,” Wells Fargo said in a note ahead of the Consumer Price Index report. Thursday.
Economists expect it to ease to 6.5% yoy in December from 7.1%, supported by lower car prices, oil prices and rental prices.
Expectations of new signs of easing inflationary pressures have boosted expectations of a less aggressive Fed.
Consumer discretionary stocks led gains in the broader market, as Amazon (NASDAQ:) and Tesla (NASDAQ:) posted gains, with the latter announcing plans to expand its electric vehicle factory in Texas. The move comes on demand concerns after Tesla recently cut prices for electric vehicles in China, a key market for the EV maker.
Travel and hospitality stocks also boosted consumer stocks, with Expedia (NASDAQ:) Rebounding 5% after Oppenheimer improved travel company quality to outperform as “customer services efficiency improvements and successful cost reduction execution,” they expect to boost margins.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:), meanwhile, rose more than 2% and 3%, respectively, to lead the big tech companies. Microsoft’s reported interest in investing in artificial intelligence startup OpenAI continues to spur optimism on Wall Street.
“With ChatGPT being one of the most innovative AI technologies seen in the industry, MSFT is clearly being aggressive on this front and will not be far behind in what could be a potential game-changing investment in AI,” Wedbush said in a statement. note.
Airline stocks were also in the spotlight after the Federal Aviation Authority suspended domestic flights following an overnight outage of a system used to send flight and safety information to pilots. More than 8,200 flights have been delayed and more than 1,200 flights cancelled, according to the FlightAware flight tracking service.
Most airlines, including american airlines group (NASDAQ:), Delta Air Lines (NYSE:), United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ:), but Southwest Airlines (NYSE:) was marginally in the red.
