Stock market today: Wall Street ticks higher after inflation data clears the way for cuts to rates

News

Stock market today: Wall Street ticks higher after inflation data clears the way for cuts to rates

2024-08-15 04:14 Last Updated At：04:20

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks ticked higher in a quiet Wednesday after the latest update on inflation came in almost exactly as economists expected.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4% to follow up on one of its best days of the year and climb within 3.7% of its all-time high set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 242 points, or 0.6%, to finish a day above the 40,000 level for the first time in nearly two weeks. The Nasdaq composite edged up less than 0.1%.

Treasury yields were also relatively steady in the bond market after the U.S. government said consumers paid prices that were 2.9% higher last month for gasoline, food, shelter and other things than a year earlier.

The data should keep the Federal Reserve on track to cut its main interest rate at its next meeting in September, a move that Wall Street has long been looking forward to. The Fed has been keeping rates at an economy-crunching level in hopes of stifling inflation that topped 9% two years ago, and lower interest rates would ease the pressure on both the economy and on prices for investments.

The only question is how big the first cut to rates since the 2020 COVID crash will be: the traditional quarter of a percentage point or a more dramatic half point?

Wednesday’s reading on inflation at the consumer level wasn’t as cool as the prior day’s update on inflation at the wholesale level, but it likely doesn’t change much, according to Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing, at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.

If most of the data over the next few weeks points to a slowing economy, he said the Fed may cut more aggressively. That includes a report coming up Thursday about how much U.S. shoppers spent at retailers.

While the economy is still growing, and many economists see a recession as unlikely, worries have risen about its strength after a much worse-than-expected month of hiring by U.S. employers in July.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 3.83% from 3.85% late Tuesday. It’s been coming down since topping 4.70% in April, as expectations have built for coming cuts to interest rates.

The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, edged up to 3.95% from 3.94% late Tuesday, as traders weigh whether September’s anticipated cut will be the traditional or jumbo-sized move.

On Wall Street, Kellanova rose 7.8% after Mars said it would buy the company behind Pringles, Cheez-Its and Kellogg’s for $83.50 per share in cash. The companies put the deal’s total value at $35.9 billion, including debt. Kellanova was created when the Kellogg Co. split into three companies in the summer of 2022.

Cardinal Health rose 3.7% after joining the parade of companies that have reported stronger profit for the spring than analysts expected.

On the losing end was Brinker International, the company behind Chili’s and Maggiano’s restaurants. It fell 10.7% after reporting weaker profit for the latest quarter than expected. That was despite strengthening sales trends at Chili’s, which got a boost from higher prices, increased traffic and the launch of its “Big Smasher” burger. Expectations were high coming into the report for Brinker International, whose stock is still up 45.6% for the year so far.

Starbucks fell 2.1% to give back some of its big gain from the prior day after it said it had lured Brian Niccol away from Chipotle Mexican Grill to become its CEO.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 20.78 points to 5,455.21. The Dow gained 242.75 to 40,008.39, and the Nasdaq composite rose 4.99 to 17.192.60.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were modestly higher across much of Europe and mixed in Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 has been the center of financial markets’ wildest action in recent weeks, and it rose 0.6% following a day of ups and downs. Japan’s embattled Prime Minister Fumio Kishida surprised the country Wednesday by announcing he’ll step down when his party picks a new leader next month.

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

Storms kill 6 in the South and Midwest as forecasters warn of catastrophic rains, floods this week

2025-04-04 03:29 Last Updated At：03:31

LAKE CITY, Ark. (AP) — Tornadoes and violent winds flattened homes and ripped apart buildings from Oklahoma to Indiana in the first round of lingering storms that are expected to bring record-setting rains and life-threatening flash floods across the nation’s midsection in the coming days.

At least six people were killed in western Tennessee, Missouri and Indiana in the first wave on Wednesday and early Thursday that spawned powerful tornadoes — one launching light debris nearly 5 miles (8 kilometers) above the ground in Arkansas.

Workers on bulldozers cleared rubble along the highway that crosses through Lake City, Arkansas, where a tornado sheared the roofs off homes, collapsed brick walls and tossed cars into trees.

“I don’t really know how to explain it,” said Cody Ferguson, who hid in a storm shelter with neighbors while the twister roared above them. “Just real loud rumbling, a lot of bangs, debris.”

His home that he built from the ground up was demolished, and he said a neighbor across the street was seriously injured.

Those killed included a man and his teenage daughter whose home was destroyed in western Tennessee, and a man who died after his pickup struck downed powerlines in Indiana.

Forecasters on Thursday warned of catastrophic weather soon ahead. Satellite imagery showed thunderstorms lining up like freight trains — taking the same tracks over communities in Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky, according to the national Weather Prediction Center in Maryland.

The bullseye was centered on a swath along the Mississippi River and includes the more than 1.3 million people around Memphis, Tennessee.

More than 90 million people were at risk of severe weather — from Texas to Minnesota and Maine, according to the Oklahoma-based Storm Prediction Center.

Round after round of heavy rains are expected in the central U.S. through Saturday and could produce dangerous flash floods capable of sweeping away cars. The potent storm system will bring “significant, life-threatening flash flooding” each day, the National Weather Service said.

With more than a foot (30 centimeters) of rain possible over the next four days, the prolonged deluge “happens once in a generation to once in a lifetime,” the weather service said. “Historic rainfall totals and impacts are possible.”

Water rescue teams and sandbagging operations were being staged across the region and the Federal Emergency Management Agency was ready to distribute food, water, cots, generators and meals.

There already were some water rescues on Thursday in flooded parts of Nashville, Tennessee, where the rain could persist for days after an unnerving night of tornado warnings that drained the batteries of some sirens across the city, the fire department said.

Western Kentucky residents were bracing for historic amounts of rain and flooding in places that normally don’t get overwhelmed by water, Gov. Andy Beshear said.

Flash flooding is particularly worrisome in rural areas of the state, where floodwaters can quickly rush off the mountains into the hollows. Less than four years ago, dozens died in flooding across eastern Kentucky.

Forecasters attributed the violent weather to warm temperatures, an unstable atmosphere, strong wind shear and abundant moisture streaming from the Gulf.

Under darkened skies Thursday morning, the remains of a used car dealership in Selmer, Tennessee, stood roofless and gutted by the storm. Shards of debris scattered across the car lot and wrapped around mangled trees. Some homes were leveled to their foundations around the town where three tornadoes were suspected of touching down.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol released video of lightning illuminating the sky as troopers, Selmer police, sheriff’s deputies and firefighters scoured the rubble of a decimated home early Thursday morning, looking for anyone trapped.

In neighboring Arkansas, a tornado emergency, the weather service's highest alert, was briefly declared around Blytheville on Wednesday evening, with debris lofted at least 25,000 feet (7.6 kilometers), according to weather service meteorologist Chelly Amin.

The Arkansas Division of Emergency Management reported damage in 22 counties due to tornadoes, wind gusts, hail and flash flooding.

In far western Kentucky, four people were injured while taking shelter in a vehicle under a church carport, said the emergency management office in Ballard County.

Emergency crews worked for several hours to free a warehouse worker trapped after a roof and a wall collapsed near Indianapolis. The woman was conscious and talking throughout the effort on Wednesday.

“It was just heavy debris that had fallen on top of her,” Brownsburg Fire Department spokesperson Kamrick Holding told WTHR-TV. “She happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Wind gusts blew over semitrucks, downed power lines and caused power outages that disrupted classes in at least 10 school districts in Indiana.

More than half a million customers in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas were without power early Thursday following the peak of the storms, according to PowerOutage.us.

Walker IV reported from Selmer, Tennessee, and Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press writers Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, Seth Borenstein in Washington; Isabella O'Malley in Philadelphia; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Bruce Schreiner in Louisville, Kentucky; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; Hallie Golden in Seattle; and Ed White in Detroit contributed to this report.