Stock market today: S&P 500 closes above 6,400 for first time as rate cut bets jump after CPI inflation report

The S&P 500 closed above 6,400 for the first time ever amid a broad stock market rally on Tuesday as Wall Street digested fresh inflation data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose about 1.1% or nearly 500 points. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) popped nearly 1.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) also added around 1.4%. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed at record levels.

The small-cap Russell 200 Index (^RUT) also soared amid rate-cut optimism, rising nearly 3% on the day.

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The latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that "core" inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, rose 3.1% over the past year in July, ahead of June's 2.9% increase. The reading indicated that rising goods inflation is no longer being offset by easing services inflation.

But on a headline basis, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 2.7% year over year, matching June and coming in softer than economists' expectations of a 2.8% rise.

After the inflation report's release, bets jumped on a Fed rate cut in September. Around 94% of traders expect that outcome, according to the CME Group.

The report was the first major piece of economic data to be released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics after Trump fired Erika McEntarfer as commissioner earlier this month, following the release of the July jobs report. Late Monday, Trump announced that he nominated E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, to lead the agency.

Investors will get two more pulse checks on the state of the economy later this week, with the release of the Producer Price Index on Thursday and retail sales data on Friday.

In corporate news, Intel (INTC) stock gained over 5% after CEO Lip-Bu Tan met with Trump, who had called for Tan's resignation just last week.

After the meeting, Trump posted to Truth Social calling the meeting "a very interesting one" and hailing the CEO's "success and rise" as "an amazing story."

Read more: The latest on Trump's tariffsLIVE18 updates

38 mins ago

Josh Schafer

More record highs

The S&P 500 closed above 6,400 for the first time ever amid a broader market rally on Tuesday as Wall Street digested fresh inflation data and President Trump revealed his pick to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose about 1.1% or nearly 500 points. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) popped nearly 1.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) also added around 1.4%. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed at their highest levels ever.

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At close: 4:20:01 PM EDT Advanced Chart Today at 7:17 PM UTC

Josh Schafer

Tariffs bring in record $27.7 billion in July as Trump calls haul 'incredible for our country'

Yahoo Finance's Brett LoGiurato and Ben Werschkul report:

Read more here. Today at 6:33 PM UTC

Josh Schafer

Russell 2000 sees biggest one-day rally since May

Tuesday's Federal Reserve rate cut optimism has brought a widespread market rally.

With investors now pricing in a 94% chance the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates in a September and a 52% chance the central bank lowers rates by three-quarters of a percentage point by the end of 2025, interest rate sensitive stock are catching a bid.

The small-cap Russell 2000 Index ((^RUT)), which often swings heavily on days when rate cuts are in focus, is having its best session in roughly three months and is up more than 2.6%. Today at 5:45 PM UTC

Josh Schafer

The S&P 500's march to 6,400 is still all about large tech stocks

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) is set to hit another record close on Tuesday and close above 6,400 for the first time ever.

As has been the case for much of the bull market that started in October 2022, large-cap technology stocks are driving the market's latest leg higher.

"Investors are back to their usual embrace of US large cap Tech stocks over large caps in general and the move is not yet overdone," DataTrek Research Co-Founder Jessica Rabe wrote in a Tuesday research note.

Rabe highlighted that the top 20 stocks by market cap in the index have risen 40.6% since the bottom, far outpacing the benchmark index's 27.9% gain over the same time period. This means the top 20 holdings have helped pull the index higher, while the other 480 stocks have been "a net drag" on the index in relative terms.

Nearly all of the stocks in the group that have outperformed the S&P 500 index — which includes Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG), Meta (META), Broadcom (AVGO), Tesla (TSLA), JPMorgan (JPM), Netflix (NFLX), Oracle (ORCL), and Palantir (PLTR) — have some sort of AI growth story attached to their stock story.

"Ultimately, Tech companies that leverage disruptive innovation — such as gen AI — drive US equity returns," Rabe wrote.

And when looking at the market's rebound on a sector basis there's still an AI tilt. Only Information Technology (XLK) and Industrials (XLI) have outperformed the index since the market bottom.

Citi US equity strategist Scott Chronert, who recently raised his year-end S&P 500 target to 6,600, told Yahoo Finance the Industrials rally is really just an extension of the AI trade as those companies benefit from increased AI spending.

"You're seeing this broader AI influence really permeate the index at a bigger level than just tech," Chronert said. Today at 4:57 PM UTC

Josh Schafer

Meta hits fresh record high, eyes $2 trillion market cap

Meta (META) stock was a top performer among large-cap tech companies on Tuesday amid a broader market rally. Shares of the tech giant are up more than 3.5% and trading at an all-time high.

The rally is a continuation of a boost seen following Meta's blowout second quarter earnings report less than two weeks ago. The stock has now reached a market capitalization of $1.99 trillion, just shy of passing the $2 trillion market cap mark for the first time ever.

Also on Tuesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg touted the success of Meta's newest social media platform, Threads. "Threads on the up and up — just passed 400M monthly actives on here 🔥," Zuckerberg wrote on Threads. Today at 4:06 PM UTC

Josh Schafer

Trump blasts Goldman over tariff forecasts, tells David Solomon to 'focus on being a DJ'

President Trump called out Goldman Sachs' (GS) research team for a stock market forecast it made earlier in the year, which initially predicted the S&P 500 (^GSPC) would finish the year lower as the US economy entered recession following the initial "Liberation Day" tariff announcements.

Specifically, Trump targeted Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon in a Truth Social Post Tuesday while also taking a pass at the executive's hobby as a DJ.

"David Solomon and Goldman Sachs refuse to give credit where credit is due," Trump wrote in a Tuesday post in Truth Social while lauding the revenue tariffs are bring in and a stock market that's hovering near record highs. "They made a bad prediction a long time ago on both the Market repercussion and the Tariffs themselves, and they were wrong, just like they are wrong about so much else. I think that David should go out and get himself a new Economist or, maybe, he ought to just focus on being a DJ, and not bother running a major Financial Institution."

Goldman Sachs declined to comment on the post.

Read more here. Today at 3:31 PM UTC

Josh Schafer

Ethereum treasury company Bitmine Immersion plans to issue $20 billion worth of stock to buy more ETH

Yahoo Finance's Jake Conley reports:

Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) stock popped as much as 5% at the opening bell on Tuesday after ethereum (ETH-USD) rose another 5% to trade north of $4,400 and the company announced plans to sell up to another $20 billion worth of stock to increase its holdings of the cryptocurrency.

Bitmine, whose board is led by investor Tom Lee, announced Monday that its holdings of ETH stood at $4.96 billion, or a little over 1.15 million tokens, meaning the company owns roughly 1% of all tokens in circulation.

The company's goal is to eventually acquire 5% of the world's outstanding ETH tokens. Monday's news pushed the stock up more than 14%. The stock is up over 600% this year.

Read more here. Today at 2:45 PM UTC

Josh Schafer

Everybody's buying the stock market dips now

When markets first bounced off the April bottom, there was a flurry of data showing that retail traders had led the dip-buying.

Many market bulls argued that this left room for institutional buying to pour into the market in the coming months and continue to lead stocks higher.

Following the worst day of the summer for stocks, when the market sold off after a weaker-than-expected July jobs report, that's exactly what happened.

Data from Bank of America released on Tuesday showed net buys by institutional clients were the biggest since September 2024 and the 10th-largest in history since 2008. Those clients preferred large-cap technology stocks. The $4.3 billion poured into single stocks last week by BofA clients marked the largest weekly inflow in two years. Today at 1:59 PM UTC

Josh Schafer

One reason July's CPI data supports the case for Fed rate cuts

At a high level, July's Consumer Price Index (CPI) had a bit of something for everyone.

The latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that "core" inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, rose 3.1% over the past year in July, ahead of June's 2.9% increase. But on a headline basis, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 2.7% on an annual basis in July, matching June's number and slower than economists' expectations of a 2.8% rise.

In a note to clients following the release, Renaissance Marco's head of economics Neil Dutta zoomed in on the headline increase, which came in better than expected.

"If tariffs are causing an inflation problem, then headline inflation rates ought to be accelerating," Dutta wrote. "However, overall inflation is not rising as rapidly as expected likely because nominal growth remains sluggish."

Dutta points out that over the past six months, headline CPI has increased at a 1.9% annualized rate, the slowest pace seen since October 2024. In his view, July's CPI data "cements" a September interest rate cut from the Fed. Markets seem to agree for now, with traders pricing in a roughly 94% chance the Fed lowers rates in September, per the CME FedWatch Tool.

"You might be thinking, why not a bigger upfront move," Dutta wrote. "Doves on the FOMC need to fight one battle at a time. There is a wide contingent of folks on the FOMC with tariff derangement syndrome, not seeing cuts at all this year. They won’t be able to make the leap from no cuts to a large upfront move overnight." Today at 1:35 PM UTC

Josh Schafer

Stocks open higher

US stocks moved higher on Tuesday as Wall Street digested fresh inflation data and President Trump revealed his pick to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose about 0.5%. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) popped 0.4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) led the gains rising more than 0.5%. Today at 12:59 PM UTC

Josh Schafer

September Fed rate cut bets hold steady following CPI

Following Tuesday's July inflation reading, market bets on a Federal Reserve interest rate cut held relatively steady. Investors are now pricing in a roughly a 90% chance the central bank cuts rates in September, up slightly from a 86% chance seen the day prior, per the CME FedWatch Tool. Today at 12:33 PM UTC

Josh Schafer

'Core' price increases accelerate more than expected in July

Price increases accelerated more than expected in July.

The latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that on a "core" basis, which strips out the more volatile costs of food and gas, consumer prices increased 3.1% over the prior year in July, an increase from June's 2.9% and above economists' forecast for 3%.

Core prices climbed 0.3% over the prior month, ahead of June's 0.2% increase but in line with expectations.

The headline Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed prices increased 2.7% in July, unchanged from the month prior and below the 2.8% economists had expected. On a month-over-month basis, prices increased 0.2%, lower than the 0.3% seen the month prior. Today at 12:16 PM UTC

Grace O'Donnell

Circle stock jumps on first earnings report since going public

Circle (CRCL) posted higher revenue and reserve income on Tuesday in its first quarterly report since its IPO in June, as circulation of its stablecoin USDC (USDC-USD) spread.

Circle stock rose 6% in premarket trading on Tuesday. Its total gains since going public are now 133%.

Reuters reports:

Read more here. Today at 12:07 PM UTC

Grace O'Donnell

US small business optimism rebounds, but uncertainty clouds outlook

Reuters reports:

Read more here. Today at 11:58 AM UTC

Jenny McCall

Good morning. Here's what's happening today.

Economic data: NFIB Small Business Optimism (July); Consumer Price Index (July); Real average hourly earnings (July)

Earnings: Circle (CRCL), Pony AI (PONY), On Holding (ONON), CoreWeave (CRWV), Rigetti (RGTI), Cava (CAVA)

Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning:

July inflation report expected to show prices accelerated

Media musical chairs are reshaping the sports landscape

Earnings live: Circle pops on higher revenue in first earnings report

Intel stock rises after Trump praises CEO's 'amazing story'

China urges firms to shun Nvidia chips, trade truce extended

Musk accuses Apple of unfairly favoring OpenAI on iPhone

Google and IBM believe workable quantum computer is in sight

US small business optimism up but uncertainty clouds outlook

Switzerland wants binding Trump commitment on gold tariffs Today at 11:29 AM UTC

Grace O'Donnell

Cannabis stocks soar as President Trump considers reclassifying marijuana

Tilray (TLRY) stock rose another 10% in premarket trading on Tuesday after soaring 41% on Monday amid speculation that President Trump may move to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug.

The Canadian cannabis company traded hands at over $1 per share for the first time since February. Despite a 60% gain in the past month, however, shares are still off by 30% for the year.

Other cannabis stocks saw a major lift as well. Trulieve (TCNNF) gained 38% on Monday, Curaleaf (CURLF) was up 35%, Green Thumb Industries (GTBIF) added 19%, Aurora (ACB) increased 16%, and Canopy Growth (CGC) surged 26%.

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump told donors at a New Jersey fundraiser he was considering making marijuana a Schedule III drug, which would ease restrictions on the substance. Trump said he will make a final decision in the coming weeks.

"We're looking at reclassification and we'll make a determination over the next — I would say over the next few weeks, and that determination hopefully will be the right one," Trump said. "It's a very complicated subject." Today at 9:47 AM UTC

Brian Sozzi

Intel is still a disaster

Intel (INTC) is rallying premarket as Trump walked back his apparent hate for the company's CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, after meeting on Monday.

Don't be fooled by the price action, however.

This isn't the case like Apple (AAPL), where CEO Tim Cook kisses Trump's butt and the company is exempt from various tariffs. Intel is a fundamental disaster right now. People in the industry I talk to are unsure if the company will ever come back to a state of health, given 1) how fast AI chip development is occurring, and 2) how far behind Nvidia and AMD Intel is.

Intel's statement on the meeting:

"Earlier today, Mr. Tan had the honor of meeting with President Trump for a candid and constructive discussion on Intel’s commitment to strengthening U.S. technology and manufacturing leadership. We appreciate the President’s strong leadership to advance these critical priorities and look forward to working closely with him and his Administration as we restore this great American company." Today at 9:35 AM UTC

Jenny McCall

Japan’s Nikkei hits record high on tariff relief, tech rally

The Nikkei 225 (^N225) hit a record high Tuesday as easing US tariff fears boosted optimism, led by tech stocks and tariff relief.

Bloomberg News reports:

Read more here.

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