Stocks Edge Higher on Wall Street, Adding to Gains for May
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks edged higher in morning trading on Wall Street Tuesday, putting the market a bit closer to the record high it set in late March.
The S&P 500 rose 0.1% and is within about 0.5% of its record set in late March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 83 points, or 0.2% to 39,515 as of 10:09 a.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.2%.
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Several "meme" stocks were racing higher again including GameStop and AMC Entertainment in a reprise of the social-media driven frenzy of three years ago.
An update on inflation showed that prices remain stubbornly high at the wholesale level, before many price changes are passed along to consumers. The latest producer price index showed that inflation rose sharply in April. The report also included a revision lower for the March reading. The report is the first of two big inflation updates this week that are being closely watched by Wall Street.
Bond yields edged lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.46% from 4.49% late Monday.
The bigger test for markets comes Wednesday, when the U.S. releases its monthly update on consumer prices, or inflation faced by households. Wall Street is hoping for easing inflation that will push the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates. Investors have been curtailing their expectations for the the speed and frequency of interest rate cuts this year as inflation rates barely budge, while the economy remains resilient.
Earnings have been a bright spot for markets, helping to support gains for major indexes in May after a rough April. Companies in the S&P 500 are mostly finished with their latest results, which show a 5% gain in earnings overall.
Stocks were mostly higher in Europe and Asia.
Chinese markets slipped following U.S. plans to raise tariffs on imports from China.