4:17pm: Record breaking day
The Dow Jones led Wall Street higher on Thursday, crossing 46,000 points for the first time to finish the day 1.4% higher at 46,108 points.
The S&P 500 closed up 0.9% at 6,587 points and the Nasdaq added 0.7% at 22,043 points – record closing levels for both indices.
3:47pm: Proactive news headlines
- GoviEx Uranium Inc (TSX-V:GXU, OTCQB:GVXXF) and its subsidiary GoviEx Niger Holdings announced they have agreed with the Republic of Niger to extend the pause in arbitration proceedings under the ICSID Convention for an additional six months.
- Happy Creek Minerals Ltd. (TSX-V:HPY, OTC:HPYCF) announced the start of a 10,000 metre resource expansion drill program at the Fox Tungsten Project in British Columbia’s South Cariboo district.
- Giyani Metals Corp (TSX-V:EMM, OTC:CATPF) announced that Nigel Robinson has been appointed as the company’s interim executive chairperson, replacing Charles FitzRoy who is leaving to pursue other opportunities.
2:23pm: Market movers
- Abbvie Inc (NYSE:ABBV) shares moved higher after the pharma company announced it has secured extended patent protection for its blockbuster autoimmune drug RINVOQ (upadacitinib).
- Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE:DAL) shares dipped more than 4% to about $59 in midday trading on Thursday after the air carrier said its third quarter revenue is projected to increase 2% to 4% year over year compared with its previous forecast of flat to up 4%.
- Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC) shares gained 12% to about $35 Thursday after the health insurer’s CEO Sarah London told the Deutsche Bank Healthcare conference the company’s preliminary data for quality ratings for Medicare Advantage showed a slightly higher percentage of members in four-star plans.
- Wearable Devices (Nasdaq: WLDS) shares continued to power higher in Thursday trading, surging 72% to about $9 after the provider of AI-powered touchless sensing wearables announced plans to raise about $4 million in an equity financing price at $4 per share.
- Opendoor Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:OPEN) has appointed Kaz Nejatian, chief operating officer of Shopify, as its new CEO in a leadership shake-up that sent the company’s shares soaring as much as 36%.
12:02pm: Stock rally continues
The Dow Jones led Wall Street higher, adding more than 500 points, as new inflation and labor data firmed up rate cut bets.
“Today’s CPI reading cleared the decks for a September rate cut, though the weekly claims figure provided the fuel for the real move higher in US markets,” IG chief market analysts Chris Beauchamp said.
“Coming off the back of last week’s payrolls, the signs are there that the employment picture in the US is now definitively weakening. The Fed’s rationale for acting next week got a lot stronger today, and we are seeing plenty of buying in advance of next week’s meeting.”
11:01am: Rate cut bets cemented
US consumer prices rose in August, reinforcing expectations that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates next week even as inflation remains above target.
Analysts said the data underscores the complexity of the inflation picture but does little to change expectations for Fed easing.
Wells Fargo economists noted that “the heat continues to gradually get turned up on inflation,” with a 0.35% increase in core services and “the largest monthly gain in goods inflation since January.”
Still, they pointed to considerable downside risks in the labor market, which they believe “creates more urgency to act to keep the jobs market from falling apart.”
Wells Fargo expects a 25 basis-point cut next week and 75 basis points of easing in total by year-end.
Nathaniel Casey, investment strategist at Evelyn Partners, pointed to tariff effects becoming more visible in some categories, such as apparel, which recorded its fastest monthly increase since February.
However, he noted that, “while the full impact of tariffs remains uncertain and inflation appears to be edging higher, the Federal Reserve is likely to view this as less concerning than the recent signs of softness in the labour market.”
He expects the Fed to restart its easing cycle at the September meeting.
9:55am: New records for S&P and Dow
A solid start on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 climbing to new highs.
The Dow is up 372 points or 0.8% to just under 45,863, the S&P 0.45% to 6,561.2.
Lagging slightly is the Nasdaq, up 0.4%.
Top risers on the S&P are Micron Technology, Centene, Synopsys, Molina Healthcare and Warner Bros Discovery.
Oracle is back down 3.3% after its big rise yesterday, with Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices also among the bigger fallers.
Among the Mag 7, Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta are in the red, along with Palantir and Netflix.
8:45am: Sticky inflation
Consumer inflation rose 2.9% in August, up 0.2% from a month earlier and in line with economists’ expectations, new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics has shown.
Month-over-month, CPI rose 0.4%, above a 0.3% gain expected by economists.
The gains were driven by increases in gasoline and food prices.
Core inflation, which does not include food and energy, was 3.1%, unchanged from the previous month.
Despite the stickier inflation data, markets are still pricing in a 90.9% chance that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by 25 basis points at its September 17 meeting.
There is a 9.1% chance the Fed will deliver a mega cut of 50 basis points, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
8:15am: Stock futures higher
US stock futures were higher ahead of the release of the highly anticipated Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, due at 8:30am Eastern Time, which is expected to show inflation remained sticky during August.
Economists expect headline CPI to rise 2.9% year-over-year, up from 2.7% in July.
On a monthly basis, CPI is expected to rise 0.3%, compared to 0.2% a month earlier.
Core inflation, which removes the volatile food and energy components, is expected to remain unchanged month-over-month at 3.1%.
This week’s producer prices report eased fears about price increases in the US heading into the CPI reading, according to XTB research director Kathleen Brooks.
“A negative monthly PPI print for August has eased fears that tariff-related inflation could impact the pace of Federal Reserve rate cuts,” Brooks said.
“As we lead up to this key event, the dollar is mixed, market enthusiasm for stocks remains high, the S&P 500 made a fresh record on Wednesday, and futures suggest that the US and European stocks could open slightly higher later today.”
Futures for the Nasdaq were 0.3% higher, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones both added 0.2% premarket.