US stocks gain, erase entire drop since jobs report
The S&P 500 was up 0.4%, while the Nasdaq 100 eked out a small gain of 0.1% in the final minutes of trading, after the closely-watched CPI report showed inflation came in below expectations.
The benchmark US stock index has now made back all the losses it suffered in the wake of the surprisingly soft July jobs report.
The annual rate of CPI inflation last month was down to 2.9%, lowest since March 2021. Excluding food and energy, rose 3.2% compared to one year ago.
Financials were the best-performing S&P sector ETF, led by soaring shares of Progressive Corp, which hit an all-time high after the company posted strong results for the month of July, as well as big gains for Allstate and Charles Schwab. Communications Services was the worst performing sector, while consumer discretionary was the only other sector to go negative on Wednesday.
An index that tracks the so-called “Magnificent Seven” stocks, which had gained 7.5% in the last four trading days, gave back 0.5% on the session.
Kellanova was the top S&P gainer, up 7.8% at Wednesday’s closing. The stock surged after Mars, the owner of M&Ms and Dove, agreed to buy the owner of Cheez-Its and Pringles for nearly $36 billion, the year’s biggest deal to date.
Conversely, Albemarle Corp. lost the most among all S&P stocks, down 5.7%. The company is the world’s biggest producer of lithium, a critical metal used in batteries. But as global EV demand dropped over the past year, lithium prices have tumbled.