Wall Street closes up on tech boost; inflation data dents hopes for big Fed rate cut

By Sinéad Carew and Shashwat Chauhan

(Reuters) -The S&P 500 index closed higher on Wednesday with a boost from the technology sector offsetting investor disappointment at the early morning inflation report, which crushed hopes the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates by 50 basis points next week.

The S&P 500 technology index reversed course and rallied after opening lower with a big boost from AI chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA ), up 6.3%. Semafor reported that the U.S. government is considering letting Nvidia export advanced chips to Saudi Arabia.

Political developments also drove market sentiment the day after Democrat candidate Kamala Harris put her Republican rival Donald Trump on the defensive in a combative U.S. presidential debate.

Earlier, the Labor Department reported the consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.2% last month, in line with July. Core CPI, excluding volatile food and energy components, rose 0.3% on a monthly basis, exceeding economist expectations for a 0.2% rise.

Traders changed their bets to a 85% probability for a 25 basis points cut by the Fed from 66% on Tuesday and the probability of a 50 basis point cut fell to 13% from 34% a day ago, according to CME Group's (NASDAQ:CME ) FedWatch tool.

"Maybe the market was looking for a softer inflation print which would give the Fed more reason to cut by 50 basis points next week." said Jack Janasiewicz, portfolio manager, at Natixis. "This report was in-line to slightly hotter than expectations. As a result, this puts a bit of pressure on the Fed to cut by only 25 basis points."

As the day wore on investors may have come to terms with the inflation numbers, according to Janasiewicz who also pointed to technology as the stand out "which has helped prop up the broader market."

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 56.42 points, or 1.03%, to end at 5,551.94 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 365.06 points, or 2.14%, to 17,390.94. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 101.43 points, or 0.25%, to 40,838.39.

During the session, big U.S. lenders had extended Tuesday's declines, sparked by warnings of a dip in trading revenue, a slower-than-anticipated recovery in investment banking and an expected hit to interest income from looming rate cuts.

After the Presidential debate, pricing for a Trump victory was at 48 cents on online betting site PredictIt, and at 55 cents for a Harris win.

As a result, stocks expected to perform well under a Trump presidency fell, with cryptocurrency and blockchain-related shares and prison operators lower. Trump Media & Technology Group shares slumped.

Meanwhile, solar stocks, seen as benefiting from a Harris administration, attracted some buyers with First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR ), Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN ) and SolarEdge Technologies (NASDAQ:SEDG ) all rallying.

While the debate offered Wall Street little clarity on key policy issues, some market watchers see Harris' proposals to raise the corporate tax rate as likely to hit company profits, while Trump's tougher stance on tariffs could stoke inflation.



GameStop (NYSE:GME ) shares fell sharply after the videogame retailer said it had filed for an offering of up to 20 million shares and reported lower second-quarter revenue.

Shares of lithium miners jumped after Chinese battery giant CATL said it plans to make adjustments to lithium carbonate production in Yichun. Albemarle (NYSE:ALB ), one of the largest lithium miners in the world, jumped.

Source: Investing.com