Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Feb. 4, 2025.
NYSE
Stocks rose Thursday as new inflation data and updates on U.S. tariff plans appeared to ease some concern around inflationary pressures and global trade tensions.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 342 points, or 0.7%. The S&P 500 climbed 1.04%, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.5%.
The Dow hit session highs after President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum to examine reciprocal tariffs on foreign nations, but fell short of implementing any levies after teasing major trade policy changes this week. He also suggested that additional tariffs, including on auto imports, are on the way, Reuters reported.
Dow Jones Industrial Average performance.
A jump in big-name tech stocks fueled Thursday's gains. Nvidia gained about 3.3% after Hewlett Packard Enterprise said it shipped its first solution using Nvidia's Blackwell chip. AppLovin, the best-performing U.S. tech stock last year, soared by roughly 20% on earnings. Tesla rose more than 5%, but shares are still hovering near a three-month low.
Stocks rose on the release of the producer price index — a measure of what producers get for their goods and services — which reflected a 0.4% increase for January. That came out higher than the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 0.3%. Core PPI, which excludes food and energy, was up 0.3% for the month and in-line with the forecast.
Despite the hotter number on the surface, the latest PPI report and Wednesday's consumer price index data point to a softer PCE price index than traders feared. That measure, which will be released in February, is what the Federal Reserve closely tracks.
The 10-year Treasury yield fell after the inflation data and was recently down by more than 10 basis points to 4.531%.
"The components that feed into PCE is, I think, where we're getting the celebration today. That's helping bring yields down a little bit as well," said Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist at LPL Financial.
"We're watching 4.5% as the line in the sand for this upturn that's been in place since September. A break below that would be a welcome sign for equity markets," he added.
Wall Street is coming off a choppy session after data on Wednesday showed consumer prices sped up faster-than-expected, curbing expectations of the next rate cut out to September. Investors continue to grapple with rising global trade tension.
