NEW YORK, June 13 — Wall Street stocks advanced early Tuesday following inflation data that firmed up expectations that the US Federal Reserve will pause and not lift interest rates this week.
Government figures showed that the consumer price index, a key gauge of inflation, jumped 4.0 per cent from a year ago in May, in line with analyst expectations and the lowest level in around two years.
Following the data, futures markets showed traders overwhelmingly expect the Fed to hold steady on interest rates on Wednesday and not hike for the first time in more than a year.
About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6 per cent at 34,275.68.
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.6 per cent to 4,363.22, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.5 per cent at 13,530.47.
Among individual companies, Oracle jumped 4.7 per cent as it reported an 18 per cent rise in annual revenues. The tech giant pointed to strong demand for its cloud computing products.
Bunge Limited advanced 0.6 per cent after it announced a transaction to acquire rival agribusiness company Viterra for more than US$8 billion (RM37 billion) to create a global powerhouse in the food commodities trading sector. — AFP
