SPX: S&P 500 Logs 1.1% to Close at Fresh Record Despite Hotter February Inflation Readout

Consumer prices came in above estimates and threatened to delay the Fed’s rate-cutting timeline. Investors invested anyway.

Key Points:

• S&P 500 punches through 5,175.
• Investors trifle with inflation data.
• Magnificent Seven leads upswing.
• The S&P 500 (SPX) hit a fresh record high—its 17th for 2024—punching through 5,175 points as it added 1.1% on Tuesday despite a hot report out of the US. Inflation for February, according to the consumer price index, landed at a higher-than-expected 3.2% clip. Economists had pinned their predictions to a 3.1% rate on an annualized basis.
• The elevated inflation print rekindled concerns that the Federal Reserve might choose to wait a bit longer before dialing back interest rates from their 23-year high. On the flip side, the print did little to sway investors – money managers rushed to buy stocks across the board. Technology companies were the biggest winners of the day.
• Megacap stocks, including the so-called Magnificent Seven, were in the spotlight with Nvidia NVDA rising 5.2%. The chipmaking giant pared losses from the previous few sessions. Amazon AMZN, Microsoft MSFT and Facebook parent Meta META were up more than 2% each. The Nasdaq Composite leaped 1.5% and the Dow Jones climbed 0.6%.