Wall St closes higher ahead of key inflation data

U.S. stocks ended higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 setting another closing record ahead of Friday’s key inflation report. The Dow climbed 1.2%, the S&P added nearly 9/10 of a percent, and the NASDAQ gained half a percent. The personal consumption expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, is due on Good Friday, when the stock market will be closed. the Fed projected three rate cuts this year at its policy meeting last week. But Michael Landsberg, chief investment officer at Landsberg Bennett Private Wealth Management, thinks one or two is more likely. My belief is the Fed’s pretty much gotten the last three months wrong in inflation. I think inflation’s going up. Every data point that we look at, not every but most every data point is saying that things are starting to move higher, not lower. I question, you know with stocks at all time highs, unemployment being as low as it is, do they even, you know, lower rates here In June, in company news shares of Merck rose 5% after the US Food and Drug Administration approved its new drug for a rare lung condition. Shares of Trump Media and Technology Group jumped more than 14% a day after its strong NASDAQ debut. Gains on the tech heavy NASDAQ were capped by AI giant NVIDIA, which dropped 2 1/2 percent. NVIDIA shares, however, are still up more than 80% for the year and shares of GameStop plunged 15% after the video game retailer reported lower fourth quarter revenue and said it had cut jobs to reduce costs.