Investing.com – Wall Street rose on Wednesday, as core retail inflation numbers eased the pressure on the Federal Reserve for faster pace of rate hikes.
The S&P 500 rose 21 points, or 0.80%, to 2,743.84 as of 9:36 AM ET (14:36 GMT), while the Dow increased 173 points, or 0.68%, to 25,449.50 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 76 points, or 1.06%, to 7,277.52.
Data on Wednesday showed that the annual core consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.1%, which was less than expected.
Core prices are viewed by the Federal Reserve as a better gauge of longer-term inflationary pressure because they exclude the volatile food and energy categories. The central bank usually tries to aim for 2% core inflation or less.
Technology stocks were higher after the morning bell. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) rose 2.42% while Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) increased 1.92% and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) gained 1.37%. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was up 1.86%, while Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) jumped 2.62%.
Macy’s (NYSE:M) surged 2.52% after the retail company’s earnings came in higher than expected.
Elsewhere, Snap (NYSE:SNAP) fell 1.94% after it received subpoenas regarding information about is 2017 initial public offering. Medical marijuana company Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY) slumped 4.09% after it reported a decline in average selling prices, while Cronos Group (NASDAQ:CRON) dipped 2.77% after it posted a loss despite a revenue increase.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.15% to $1,201.00 a troy ounce, while crude oil rallied 1.87% to $56.73 a barrel on news that OPEC could curb its production. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.27% to 96.88.