Wall Street rose more than one percent and Nasdaq ended worst bear market in 14 years, after data showed that inflation in the United States slowed more than expected in July, and raised hopes that the Federal Reserve would become less hawkish in interest rate increases.
The US Labor Department said a sharp fall in the cost of gasoline helped keep the consumer price index stable last month after rising 1.3 percent in June. The index rose less than expected at 8.5 percent on an annual basis after a 9.1 percent increase in June.
Reuters reported that traders in the interest futures market now expect only a 43.5 percent chance of the US central bank raising interest rates by 75 basis points when it meets in September, compared to 68 percent before the inflation data. The most likely possibility now is a 50-basis point increase.
Nasdaq
The Nasdaq ended the worst bear market in 14 years. The technology index rose 2.9 percent and entered bullish territory for the first time in 108 days, ending its longest decline since 2008, when it fell 54 percent and lasted 218 trading days, according to market data from Dow Jones.
The Nasdaq closed Wednesday at 12855, up 20.8 percent from its lowest level in November 2020.
Major technology stocks rose, with Facebook’s parent company Meta rising 5.8 percent and Netflix’s 6 percent higher.
But the Nasdaq is still 19.9 percent down from its record close in November 2021.
The S&P 500 also led the way, hitting a three-month high and ended the trading session up 86.29 points, or 2.09 percent, to 4208.76 points.
Dollar
On the other hand, the dollar index, which measures the value of the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 1.025 percent to 105.26 in the late trading session.
The dollar fell 1.58 percent to 132.97 yen, after briefly dropping as much as 2.3 percent against the Japanese currency, the largest decline since March 2020.
