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U.S. stocks ticked higher Wednesday following strong profit reports from BlackRock and other big companies. The tentative gains came as oil prices swung to their highest levels in a month because of the war with Iran. The S&P 500 rose 0.4% after flipping between modest gains and losses through the day and it's back within 0.5% of its all-time high set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 150 points (0.3%) and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.6%. BlackRock led the market with a rise of 6.6% after the company reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Bank of New York Mellon rose 5.1% after adding to the spate of strong earnings reports from many of the biggest U.S. banks a day earlier. Cintas climbed 4.4% after the provider of office uniforms, restroom supplies and other products likewise delivered a better profit for the latest quarter than analysts forecast. They helped offset a drop for Elevance Health which fell 8.5% even though it reported stronger profit and revenue than analysts expected. A separate report said inflation that U.S. consumers are feeling was also not as bad as economists expected last month. The broad U.S. stock market got a lift from another report showing inflation slowed last month. It said inflation at the wholesale level slowed to 5.5% from 6% in May and it was much better than the acceleration that economists expected. Following the inflation report, traders see just a 10% chance that the Fed will raise its main interest rate at its next meeting in a couple weeks which is lower from nearly 42% probability before the inflation reports, according to data from CME Group. In China, stocks rose 1.4% in Hong Kong but fell 0.3% in Shanghai after the government said the world's second-largest economy expanded at a 4.3% annualized pace last quarter, down from the 5% growth rate at the start of the year. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.55% from 4.58% late Tuesday and from 4.62% the day before. Powered by Capital Market - Live News
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