Oil dips as dollar firms while more rate hikes loom

SINGAPORE, Dec 15 (Reuters) – Oil prices dipped in Asian trade on Thursday as the dollar firmed, while the possibility of further interest rate hikes from global central banks also heightened demand concerns.

Brent crude futures fell 64 cents, or 0.8%, to USD 82.06 per barrel by 0730 GMT, while US crude futures slid 73 cents, or 0.9%, to USD 76.55.

Both contracts fell as the dollar gained. A stronger dollar weakens oil demand as it makes the commodity more expensive for those holding other currencies.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday the US central bank will raise interest rates further next year, even as the economy slips towards a possible recession.

“Oil price is under pressure today as the Fed’s hawkish guidance for its monetary policy sparked renewed concerns about economic growth again, lifting the US dollar and sending commodity prices down,” said Tina Teng, an analyst at CMC Markets.

Chinese economic data for November were “much lower than expected, further darkening the demand outlook,” Teng added.

The world’s second-biggest economy lost more steam as factory output slowed and retail sales extended declines, both missing forecasts and clocking their worst readings in six months amid surging COVID-19 cases.

Also weighing on oil prices, Canada’s TC Energy Corp said it is resuming operations in a section of its Keystone pipeline, a week after a leak of more than 14,000 barrels of oil in rural Kansas triggered the whole pipe’s shutdown.

Price declines were capped by projections from the International Energy Agency, which see Chinese oil demand recovering next year after a contraction this year of 400,000 barrels per day.

Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose by more than 10 million barrels last week, the most since March 2021, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said.

US gasoline stocks rose by 4.5 million barrels in the week to 223.6 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles rose by 1.4 million barrels to 120.2 million barrels.

“Commercial crude oil inventories rose as refineries trimmed their runs,” said Citi analysts in a note.

Refined product inventories also rose robustly as end-user demand continues to taper off in light of high energy prices and net exports of refined products rose, the analysts wrote.

(Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh in Singapore; Additional reporting by Laura Sanicola in Washington; Editing by Bradley Perrett and William Mallard)

Oil prices slid 2% as dollar firms and central banks hike interest rates

NEW YORK, Dec 15 (Reuters) – Oil prices slid about 2% on Thursday as traders worried about the fuel demand outlook due to a stronger dollar and further interest rate hikes by global central banks.

After rising for three straight days, Brent futures fell USD 1.49, or 1.8%, to settle at USD 81.21 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell USD 1.17, or 1.5%, to settle at USD 76.11.

“Crude prices edged lower as … global recession risks increased after a wave of central banks delivered another strong round of tightening. Oil’s recent rally (ran) out of steam as risk aversion runs wild,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at data and analytics firm OANDA.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday the US central bank will raise interest rates further next year, even as the economy slips toward a possible recession. On Thursday, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank raised interest rates to fight inflation.

US stock indexes fell sharply as the Federal Reserve’s guidance for protracted policy tightening quelled hopes the rate-hike cycle would end anytime soon.

“The oil price is under pressure today as the Fed’s hawkish guidance for its monetary policy sparked renewed concerns about economic growth, lifting the US dollar and sending commodity prices down,” said CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng.

A stronger US dollar =USD makes oil more expensive for those using other currencies.

US retail sales fell more than expected in November, but consumer spending remains supported by a tight labor market, with the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits decreasing by the most in five months last week.

In China, the world’s second biggest economy, lost more steam in November as factory output slowed and retail sales extended declines, the worst readings in six months, hobbled by surging COVID-19 cases and widespread virus curbs.

Also pressuring oil prices, Canada’s TC Energy Corp TRP.TO said it was resuming operations in a section of its Keystone pipeline, a week after a leak of more than 14,000 barrels of oil in Kansas triggered a shutdown.

(Additional reporting by Noah Browning in London, Jeslyn Lerh in Singapore and Laura Sanicola in Washington; Editing by David Goodman, Sherry Jacob-Phillips, David Gregorio, Diane Craft and Jonathan Oatis)

Gold drops as Fed says more rate hikes coming

Dec 15 (Reuters) – Gold prices fell nearly 1% on Thursday, after US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said more interest rate hikes would come next year.

Spot gold slipped 0.9% to usd 1,791.71 per ounce, as of 0724 GMT, retreating further from a more than five-month high scaled on Tuesday. US gold futures were down 0.9% at USD 1,802.10.

The Fed will deliver more rate hikes next year, even as the US economy slips towards a possible recession, Powell said on Wednesday, arguing a higher cost would be paid if the central bank does not get a firmer grip on inflation.

A hawkish Fed is weighing on the bullion market and gold’s outlook hinges on how much more tightening central banks, in particular the Fed, plan to do from here, said OCBC FX strategist Christopher Wong.

“Broadly into 2023, I still favour gold to trade higher but near term into end-year, I won’t rule out any profit-taking or pullback in prices.”

Gold is traditionally considered an inflation hedge but higher interest rates dim bullion’s appeal by increasing the opportunity cost of holding the non-yielding metal.

“Spot gold may drop into a range of USD 1,766-USD 1,780 per ounce, following its failure to break a resistance at USD 1,825,” according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.

The dollar index was up 0.1%. A stronger greenback makes gold more expensive for overseas buyers.

Marker participants now await rate-hike decisions from the Bank of England and the European Central Bank later in the day, with both expected to deliver a 50-basis point rate hike.

Traders will also scan upcoming economic data, including the weekly US jobless claim numbers due at 1330 GMT, for their likely influence on the Fed’s rate-hike strategy.

Silver fell 2.5% to USD 23.29 per ounce, platinum lost 1.6% to USD 1,012.55 and palladium was down 0.6% to USD 1,904.69.

(Reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Subhranshu Sahu)

US SEC votes to advance stock market overhaul proposals

NEW YORK, Dec 14 (Reuters) – The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday voted to propose some of the biggest changes to American equity market structure in nearly two decades, aimed at boosting transparency and fairness while increasing competition for individual investors’ stock orders.

The proposals include requiring marketable retail stock orders to be sent to auctions before they are executed, a new standard for brokers to show they get the best possible executions for client orders, and lower trading increments and access fees on exchanges, the SEC said.

“We feel that these reforms, if enacted, will ultimately help the price discovery process and save investor’s money,” said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading.

“Allowing orders to interact with each other, rather than segmenting them, will enhance competition and yield better prices.”

Opening up individual investor orders that can be immediately executed to competitive auctions could lead to “significantly” better prices for investors, the SEC said. Under current practice, retail brokers send most such orders to wholesale brokers, sometimes for a fee.

“The competitive shortfall could be worth about USD 1.5 billion annually, compared with current practice — money that could go back into retail investors’ pockets,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler.

The changes, if adopted, would represent the biggest shakeup to stock market rules since the SEC introduced Regulation National Market System in 2005, which was aimed at modernizing and enhancing an increasingly fragmented and largely electronic marketplace.

Ronan Ryan, president and co-founder of exchange operator IEX Group Inc said the reforms were a “constructive and positive effort to improve transparency, increase competition, and ensure that investors can access the best prices available in the market.”

“It has been 17 years since the existing equity rules were adopted, and since that time, the stock market has seen significant change – including the advent of high-frequency trading, a dramatic decline in displayed liquidity on exchange, and a substantial rise in off-exchange trading,” said Ryan.

“Modernizing regulation ensures that market competition among brokers, market makers, and exchanges continues to benefit investors.”

The order competition rule, which would require marketable retail orders to be sent to auctions, could lead to more such orders being matched on exchanges, like the Nasdaq NDAQ.O or Intercontinental Exchange Inc’s New York Stock Exchange, rather than by wholesale brokers, like Citadel Securities and Virtu Financial.

Nasdaq said it believes in “transparent, fair, efficient, competitive and inclusive markets and that it looks forward to reviewing the SEC’s proposals.

Citadel Securities said in a statement that “any proposed changes must provide demonstrable solutions to real problems while avoiding unintended consequences that will hurt American investors.”

Firms that benefit from the status quo, such as wholesalers and retail brokers that receive payments from them, will likely fight the SEC’s proposals, said Stephen Hall, Better Markets’ Legal Director and Securities Specialist.

“It is imperative that the SEC resist industry pressure, carefully consider all stakeholder input, and finalize a set of rules that will truly help investors at long last to get a better deal on Wall Street,” said Hall.

The SEC also voted to propose requiring brokers to provide more information on the quality of their customer trades, while also expanding the number of firms that must file the order execution reports.

The proposed changes will be put up for public comment until at least March 31 before the regulator moves to finalize the rules, which will also be voted on.

The regulator also voted to expand disclosures around the trading of company shares by insiders, such as executives and directors, that have received equity-based compensation.

(Reporting by John McCrank; Additional reporting by Sinead Carew and Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Stephen Coates)

“Substantially more evidence”

Dec 15 (Reuters) – It’s a US-Sino, one-two punch for Asian markets on Thursday, as they react to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference following the last interest rate hike of the year and digest a raft of top-tier economic data from China.

The Fed raised rates by 50 basis points on Wednesday, as expected, bringing the calendar year total to 425 bps. It was the first meeting in five that the Fed did not hike by 75 bps.

But Powell was more hawkish in his outlook than investors had expected, indicating that there is further tightening ahead and that rate cuts next year, which are currently implied in market pricing, are not on the table.

“The inflation data received so far in October and November show a welcome reduction in the pace of price increases, but it will take substantially more evidence to give confidence inflation is on a sustained downward path,” said Powell.

Wall Street wiped out earlier gains to close in the red, and rates futures traders pushed the implied terminal rate back up toward 5.0%. They still expect 50 bps of easing next year.

Powell offered little pushback against the recent loosening of financial conditions. According to Goldman Sachs, US financial conditions have eased more than 100 bps over the last two months, during which time the Fed raised rates 125 bps.

This could continue to support risk appetite.

Chinese and broader emerging market financial conditions have eased notably over the fourth quarter too, which has helped spur the year-end recovery in regional stocks – the MSCI Asia ex-Japan Index is staging a solid rebound following a wretched run of five quarterly declines.

Hopeful that this will continue into year end, investors also point to China relaxing its zero-COVID policy and loosening restrictions, which should spur the economy more broadly.

This potential economic recovery is getting domestic and international support – Beijing is considering a trillion-yuan (USD 143 billion) package to support the country’s semiconductor industry, while the Biden administration plans to remove some Chinese entities from a red flag trade list.

In a further sign of US-China detante, Washington said on Wednesday it is willing to help China deal with a surge of COVID-19 infections if Beijing requests assistance.

Right now, however, China’s economic numbers are not great, and the November data scheduled for release early on Thursday are expected to show a deterioration from the previous month. On the docket are house prices, business investment, industrial production, retail sales and unemployment.

(Reporting by Jamie McGeever in Orlando, Fla.; Editing by Josie Kao)

Wall Street ends lower after latest Fed rate hike

NEW YORK, Dec 14 (Reuters) – US stocks closed lower in volatile trading on Wednesday following a policy announcement by the Federal Reserve that raised interest rates by an expected 50 basis points, but its economic projections see higher rates for a longer period.

The central bank raised interest rates by half a percentage point on Wednesday and projected at least an additional 75 basis points of increases in borrowing costs by the end of 2023, as well as a rise in unemployment and a near-stalling of economic growth.

The Fed’s latest quarterly summary of economic projections shows US central bankers see the policy rate – now in the 4.25%-to-4.5% range – at 5.1% by the end of next year, according to the median estimate of all 19 Fed policymakers, up from the 4.6% view at the end of September.

In comments after the statement, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said it was too soon to talk about cutting rates as the focus is on making the central bank’s policy stance restrictive enough to push inflation down to its 2% goal.

Economic data on Tuesday, which showed cooling consumer inflation for November, had heightened expectations a move by the Fed to halt rate hikes might be on the horizon next year.

“They may be using these sort of very aggressive dot plot forecasts to take any steam out of the easing that has gone on in the last couple of months,” said Rhys Williams, chief strategist at Spouting Rock Asset Management in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, said of Feb policymakers.

“Conditions have eased, and that is their way of jawboning they are not going to let any easing really happen until they see unemployment go up.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 142.29 points, or 0.42%, to 33,966.35, the S&P 500 lost 24.33 points, or 0.61%, to 3,995.32 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 85.93 points, or 0.76%, to 11,170.89.

Nearly all of the 11 major S&P sectors ended the session in negative territory, with healthcare .SPXHC the sole advancer. Financials .SPSY, down 1.29%, were the worst performing sector.

Despite the Fed statement, US Treasury yields were slightly lower after initially jumping in the wake of the announcement.

The strategy of aggressive interest rate increases by major central banks around the world this year has increased worries the global economy could be pushed into a recession and weighed heavily on riskier assets such as equities this year.

Each of the three major averages on Wall Street are on track for their first yearly decline since 2018, and their biggest yearly percentage decline since the financial crisis of 2008.

Tesla Inc. (TSLA) slipped 2.58% after a Goldman Sachs analyst trimmed the price target for the electric-vehicle maker’s stock.

Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) tumbled 16.38% as brokerages cut their price targets following the telecom services firm’s mega-spending plans for a higher-speed internet upgrade.

Volume on US exchanges was 12.15 billion shares, compared with the 10.55 billion-share average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.39-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.42-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted eight new 52-week highs and two new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 82 new highs and 223 new lows.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Gold ticks lower as US Fed sees no immediate end to rate hikes

Dec 14 (Reuters) – Gold slipped on Wednesday as the US Federal Reserve signaled that interest rates would stay elevated going into the new year and said it was too soon to consider rate cuts.

“Our focus right now is really on moving our policy stance to one that is restrictive enough to ensure a return of inflation to our 2% goals over time, it’s not on rate cuts,” Chair Jerome Powell said at the news conference following the Fed’s latest policy-setting meeting.

Spot gold edged 0.1% lower to USD 1,808.09 per ounce, by 3:43 p.m. ET (2043 GMT), after falling as much as 0.8% following the Fed’s announcement to raise rates by a widely expected half a percentage point and projection of at least an additional 75 basis points of increase in borrowing costs by the end of 2023.

US gold futures settled 0.4% lower at USD 1,818.70.

“Gold scoffs at hawkish signals in the dot plot as well as Powell’s clear warning that there are no rate cuts priced in 2023 at this time, clawing back all its initial losses,” said Tai Wong, a senior trader at Heraeus Precious Metals in New York.

“The weak dollar is certainly helping. The market thinks ultimately the Fed will be a paper tiger and fold as soon as there’s a recession or unemployment turns higher,” Wong said, adding that it was unclear if gold could rally above this week’s USD 1,824 high.

A lower dollar makes greenback-priced bullion less expensive for overseas buyers.

Gold on Tuesday jumped after data showed a smaller-than-expected rise in US consumer prices, which drove hopes for slower rate hikes, analysts said. Lower rates tend to cut the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.

Spot silver rose 0.8% to USD 23.92 per ounce, platinum fell 0.8% to USD 1,025.05, and palladium lost 0.8% to USD 1,913.89.

(Reporting by Kavya Guduru and Bharat Govind Gautam in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Shounak Dasgupta and Shinjini Ganguli)

Global investors fly blind into China’s messy post-COVID transition

HONG KONG/SHANGHAI, Dec 14 (Reuters) – Global investors, already caught off guard by China’s virus-policy U-turn, now find themselves flying blind into a chaotic post-pandemic transition, lacking proper data to track rising infections and potential threats to the economy in the months ahead.

Authorities in China, where official data often confounds investors or is questioned for its reliability, have halted mass testing for COVID-19 and narrowed their reporting of infections, making information even harder to come by.

Investors have been left scouring online search data or other alternatives and are tweaking their tracking models, struggling for a clear view of surging COVID infections and a potential healthcare crisis as the world’s second-largest economy reopens.

While confidence remains unshaken that China will emerge with stronger growth in the latter part of next year, the near-term surge in cases poses new challenges to an economy that investors have long found difficult to read.

“It’s chaos now,” said Joanna Shen, emerging markets, and Asia Pacific equities investment specialist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

“Let’s give one month to see how things will be. Everything is so fast.”

J.P.Morgan Asset Management maintains a “neutral” weight on China, preferring a wait-and-see stance for the short term after authorities last week rolled back draconian anti-COVID policies that were strangling the economy.

Markets have also stalled this week, after hints of imminent easing – and last week’s announcement of actual measures – had sparked a rally in stock prices and the Chinese currency.

Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index in November logged its best month since 1998 and continued roaring into the first week of December but has since lost momentum.

The Shanghai Composite is down nearly 1% this week and the offshore yuan has paused after rallying roughly 4% in November, its best month on record.

Investors see the healthcare system as the economy’s primary pressure point, where a breakdown could trigger a return to strict rules, so they are seeking novel ways to track illness and fill the gaps left by increasingly patchy public data.

Officially, China’s new infections dropped sharply over the past week, with 2,291 new symptomatic COVID infections reported for Dec. 13, less than half the Dec. 5 peak of 5,046.

But on the ground, the rapid spread of the virus is evident in gossip about community outbreaks, long queues outside fever clinics, and a public scramble for flu drugs.

COVID KEYWORDS

The lack of reliable official COVID data forced Ting Lu, Chief China Economist at Nomura, to turn to unconventional sources such as Baidu – China’s dominant online search engine – to track the state of the pandemic.

A surge in Baidu search frequency for COVID-related keywords pointed to a spike in local infections in the capital city Beijing – likely China’s current COVID epicentre – as well as other major cities, Lu wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday.

He predicted unprecedented outbreaks around the Lunar New Year holiday in late January.

David Chao, global market strategist for Asia Pacific at Invesco, said that the end of mass testing has led him to monitor the healthcare system, where any sign of meltdown could trigger a return to lockdowns or other harsh controls.

Another challenge for investors is gauging the potential for worker shortages as infections rise, and assessing how the overall population responds to living with COVID.

Arthur Kroeber, head of research at Gavekal Dragonomics, said China’s COVID policy pivot has been so rapid that it has not yet shown up in Gavekal’s index of COVID restrictions in Chinese cities. The index tracks and analyses local rules that restrict movement, and these are now in a state of flux.

“I think it is going to continue to be messy in implementation over the next month or two,” as China dismantles the restrictions, Kroeber said.

Aninda Mitra, head of Asia macro and investment strategy at BNY Mellon Investment Management, urged investors to be cautious.

“China’s pivot to a broader reopening is now under way and warrants optimism, but (it’s) not a one-way bet,” he wrote in a report that forecasts soaring COVID cases and volatile markets.

Looking at the longer term, however, Morgan Stanley predicted that the reopening would allow China to achieve economic growth of 5% in 2023, compared with an estimated 3% this year.

But Morgan Stanley’s chief China economist, Robin Xing, still feels “short-term pain is inevitable”.

“GDP growth will likely remain sluggish before spring starts next year,” he said.

(Reporting by Samuel Shen and Summer Zhen; Editing by Tom Westbrook and Edmund Klamann)

Oil slips as US crude stock build stirs doubts on demand

SINGAPORE, Dec 14 (Reuters) – Oil prices fell on Wednesday after industry data showed a surprise build in US crude inventories against analysts’ forecast of a decline, reinforcing fears about weakening demand even as supply tightens.

Brent crude futures dropped 18 cents, or 0.2%, to USD 80.50 per barrel at 0727 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 34 cents, or 0.2%, to USD 75.05.

Market players are also taking profits as risks persist ahead of a US Federal Open Market Committee meeting, said Tina Teng, a CMC Markets analyst.

“But I still expect that oil prices may continue their recent rebounding pace,” she said, adding that previous selloffs, fuelled by fears of recession, had paused after two consecutive data releases indicated cooler US inflation.

US Federal Reserve policymakers are expected to raise interest rates by 50 basis points on Wednesday, slowing from the 75-basis-point pace they had stuck to in meetings since June as they grapple with inflation.

The US consumer price index rose 0.1% in November after advancing 0.4% the previous month.

“Any commentary from the Fed indicating further deceleration of rate hikes in the US would be supportive to oil prices from here,” said Baden Moore, head of commodities research at National Australia Bank.

US crude inventories rose by about 7.8 million barrels in the week to Dec. 9, according to market sources citing data from the American Petroleum Institute, while analysts polled by Reuters had expected a 3.6 million barrel drop in stocks.

The inventory data dampened bullish sentiment that sent the market up 3% in the previous session, on hopes for a revival in Chinese demand with the easing of COVID-19 restrictions and for a weakening dollar after data showed US inflation subsiding.

Road and air traffic in China has rebounded sharply, according to data from the transport ministry, travel analytics firms and energy consultancies, boosting the outlook for fuel demand.

OPEC said in its latest monthly report that it is expecting to see robust global oil demand growth in 2023, with potential economic upside coming from a relaxation of China’s COVID-related policies.

Oil prices have also been supported this week by the outage of TC Eenrgy Corp’s TRP.TO Keystone Pipeline, which ships 620,000 barrels per day of Canadian crude to the United States.

The pipeline had shut following a 14,000-barrel spill, with local officials saying on Tuesday that the cleanup will take at least several weeks more.

(Reporting by Sonali Paul in Melbourne and Emily Chow in Singapore; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Edmund Klamann)

Wall St rises after CPI data but Fed concerns persist

NEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) – US stocks rose on Tuesday after a unexpectedly small consumer price increase buoyed optimism that the Federal Reserve could soon dial back its inflation-taming interest rate hikes, but concerns remained the central back could stay aggressive.

The benchmark S&P 500 jumped as much as 2.76% to a three-month high early in the trading session on news that November US consumer prices barely rose as gasoline and used cars cost less, leading to the smallest annual inflation increase in nearly a year at 7.1%.

Rising expectations for smaller and slower Fed rate hikes sent US Treasury yields sharply lower and helped lift rate-sensitive gauges like the S&P 500 growth index , up 1.18%, and the S&P 500 real estate index up 2.04% to their highest intraday levels in nearly three months. The real estate sector notched its biggest daily percentage gain in two weeks as the best performing of the 11 major sectors.

Fed funds futures prices implied a better-than-even chance that the Fed will follow an expected half-point rate hike this week, with smaller 25-basis point hikes at its first two meetings of 2023, and stopping shy of 5% by March.

Morgan Stanley’s chief US economist Ellen Zentner now sees even smaller Fed rate hikes, of 25 basis points at the central bank’s February meeting, and no further increases in March, leaving the peak fed funds rate at 4.625%.

Still, equities pared gains ahead of the Fed’s policy statement on Wednesday, in which the central bank is widely expected to announce a 50 basis point rate hike.

“There was some excitement early on that the CPI number was once again below expectations – it shows some sequential cooling – but once we saw that initial pop, stock investors kind of reassessed,” said Jason Ware, chief investment officer at Albion Financial Group in Salt Lake City, Utah.

“That probably took some of the steam out of the markets once investors realized tomorrow very well may be (Fed Chair) Jerome Powell throwing cold water on the rally today.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 103.6 points, or 0.3%, to 34,108.64, the S&P 500 gained 29.09 points, or 0.73%, to 4,019.65 and the Nasdaq Composite added 113.08 points, or 1.01%, to 11,256.81.

Energy, up 1.77%, was among the best performing S&P sectors on the day as the softer-than-anticipated inflation data sent the dollar lower and boosted crude oil prices.

The consumer inflation numbers follow November’s producer prices report last week, which was slightly higher than expected but pointed to a moderation in the trend.

Still, some questioned whether the trend in prices could continue.

“Today’s CPI print is incrementally good, but it needs to be sustained,” said Venu Krishna, head of U.S. equity strategy at Barclays in New York.

“There is a big question mark whether we can really come to the 2% inflation (Fed target). Perhaps we live in a world in which it will be higher and that means rates will be higher and then multiples will certainly be lower.”

Moderna Inc surged 19.63% after the biotechnology firm’s experimental vaccine in combination with Merck & Co Inc’s blockbuster drug Keytruda showed promising results in a skin cancer study. Merck shares advanced 1.78%.

Pinterest Inc jumped 11.90% after Piper Sandler upgraded the social media platform’s stock to “overweight” from “neutral.”

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.83-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.49-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 18 new 52-week highs and 1 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 92 new highs and 212 new lows.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak, additional reporting by Carolina Mandl; Editing by Richard Chang)

2024 Mid-Year Economic Briefing: Navigating the Easing Cycle

Investing with Love: A Mother’s Guide to Putting Money to Work

Investor Series: An Introduction to Estate Planning

Inflation Update: Target breached

Philippines Trade Update: Wider deficit on strong imports