Wall Street rose on Thursday, thanks to weak US inflation data that kept alive the chances of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, while excellent forecasts from chipmaker Micron pointed to strong demand in artificial intelligence.
U.S. consumer prices rose less than expected in the year through November, while the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics did not release month-over-month CPI changes after a 43-day government shutdown prevented the collection of October data.
“The November CPI was much lower than expected (…) this is likely to raise questions about certain adjustments that statisticians had to make given the lack of October data,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth. “Overall this is a positive report, which comes with an asterisk.”
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According to preliminary closing data, the S&P 500 gained 52.48 points, or 0.78%, to 6,773.91 points; while the Nasdaq Composite gained 311.60 points, or 1.37%, to 23,004.92 units. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 69.36 points, or 0.14%, to 47,955.33 points.
Leading technology stocks was Micron Technology, which soared after forecasting quarterly profits nearly double what analysts expected thanks to strong demand related to artificial intelligence.
Companies like SanDisk and Western Digital also rose, while the Philadelphia SE semiconductor index also closed higher.
Oracle rose, recovering from Wednesday’s decline, when financing plans for a Stargate data center caused its shares to sell off.
With information from Reuters.
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