NEW YORK: US stock markets opened higher on Wednesday, showing signs of recovery on the back of encouraging inflation data after days of turmoil fueled by the White House’s aggressive tariff policy.
The Dow Jones Industrial average rose 0.3 percent to 41,554.81, and the broad-based S&P 500 Index rose 1.1 percent to 5,634.14.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.9 percent to 17,771.82.
Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers said Wednesday’s consumer price index (CPI) numbers, which showed inflation inching lower, provided the market with much-needed positivity.
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“After some recent negative surprises, we got a positive surprise, he said.
The CPI, a key gauge of inflation, came in at 2.8 percent last month from a year ago, down from 3.0 percent in January, said the Department of Labor.
Sosnick said: “Considering the market’s been a little bit nervous, I think there was some concern that the number might disappoint.”
But the data told a story that the market wanted to hear, he said.
Traders in the world’s biggest economy have been weighing the possibility of a recession – and near-term inflation – based on US President Donald Trump’s launching of trade wars with Washington’s biggest partners.
Sosnick warned that while the inflation data was positive, the uncertainty emanating from Trump’s tariff policies still weighed on the market.
Major tech shares – which led losses through three weeks of market volatility – rebounded at Wednesday’s open, with Tesla, Nvidia, Meta, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet all gaining slightly.
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