Jan 11, 2024: On Thursday, U.S. stocks experienced marginal gains as investors absorbed the nuances of the December Consumer Price Index (CPI) release. The headline figure for U.S. inflation revealed a rise to 3.4% on an annual basis, up from November’s 3.1%, surpassing the anticipated 3.2%.
However, the “core” CPI, excluding volatile elements such as food and energy, showed a decline to 3.9%, down from the previous month’s 4.0% but still exceeding the expected 3.8%.
While the data presented a warmer inflation picture than anticipated, the focus on the falling core prices suggests that the Federal Reserve is likely to proceed with interest rate cuts in the coming year.
At 09:35 ET (14:35 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 40 points (0.1%), the S&P 500 traded 6 points (0.1%) higher, and the NASDAQ Composite climbed 60 points (0.4%).
