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Stocks rose on Thursday as traders anticipated that the latest reading of a key consumer inflation gauge won’t stand in the way of the Federal Reserve lowering its benchmark interest rate next week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 182 points, or 0.4%. The S&P 500 climbed 0.4% and touched a fresh record. The Nasdaq Composite also advanced 0.4%.

Stocks rose on Thursday (September 11) as traders anticipated that the latest reading of a key consumer inflation gauge won’t stand in the way of the Federal Reserve lowering its benchmark interest rate next week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 115 points, or 0.2%. The S&P 500 climbed 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.4%.

Traders are betting the European Central Bank’s interest rate-cutting cycle has likely come to an end after President Christine Lagarde said growth risks in the region are more balanced and the disinflationary process is over.

Money market pricing shows traders are favouring rates staying on hold throughout next year. That’s a change from bets before Thursday’s decision for one more reduction by mid-2026.

The move comes after policymakers kept borrowing costs unchanged for a second meeting, deeming inflationary pressure as contained and the economic dangers abating despite heftier US tariffs.

Oil shaved off some of its recent gain as a worsening market outlook tempers geopolitical concerns.

The International Energy Agency said it now sees an even larger record oil surplus next year as OPEC+ continues to revive production and supply from rivals grows. Meanwhile, US economic data showed a surge in jobless claims, adding to worries about the labour market in the world’s largest economy.

Brent eased below $67 a barrel. The retreat follows a three-day gain driven by tensions in the Middle East and Europe, with US President Donald Trump questioning Israel’s attack on Doha and Russia’s incursion into Polish airspace. His social media post on Wednesday prompted futures to spike briefly as investors covered short positions.

US share buybacks could increase by $600 billion over the coming years as repurchases limit the supply of stocks, according to strategists at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

A team including Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou expect the dollar value of buybacks to jump further after hitting a record $1.5 trillion in 2025. The trend will be driven by a rebound in repurchase volumes to the 3% to 4% of equity market cap range seen before the pandemic, up from 2.6% currently.

Crypto lending company Figure has priced its initial public offering of 31.5 million shares at $25 per share, above the expected range of between $20 and $22 per share, and giving it a total market value of about $5 billion.

The company is expected to make its trading debut on the Nasdaq on Thursday under the ticker FIGR.

S&P 500 futures rose on Thursday (September 11), as traders anticipated that the latest reading of a key consumer inflation gauge wouldn’t stand in the way of the Federal Reserve lowering its benchmark interest rate next week.

Futures tied to the broad index rose just 0.3%, along with those linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Nasdaq 100 futures also climbed 0.3%.

The 10-year US Treasury yield fell Thursday morning as investors assessed the latest inflation data, as well as a jump in jobless claims.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury was 3 basis points lower at 4.002%. The 30-year Treasury yield, meanwhile, fell more than 1 basis point to 4.661%, as the 2-year yield dropped 4 basis points to hit 3.492%.

S&P 500 futures were relatively unchanged on Thursday, following another day of record highs, as Wall Street digested the latest reading of a key consumer inflation gauge.

Futures tied to the broad index rose just 0.1%, along with those linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Nasdaq 100 futures also climbed 0.1%.

It was a confusing batch of numbers, with the consumer price index coming in hotter than expected on a monthly basis but in line with expectations on an annual basis.

Prices consumers pay for a variety of goods and services moved higher than expected in August while jobless claims accelerated, providing challenging economic signals for the Federal Reserve before its meeting next week.

The consumer price index posted a seasonally adjusted 0.4% increase for the month, double the prior month, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.9%. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for respective readings of 0.3% and 2.9%.

For the vital core reading that excludes food and energy, the August gain was 0.3%, putting the 12-month figure at 3.1%, both as forecast. Fed officials consider core to be a better gauge of long-run trends.

Consumer prices rose at annual rate of 2.9% in August, as weekly jobless claims jump.

In a Thursday note, Citi reiterated its buy rating on semiconductor manufacturer Micron Technology while also raising its price target to $175 per share from $150.

Micron stock has surged 66% this year. Citi’s updated price forecast implies an additional 25% upside ahead.

OPEC continued to project a substantial supply deficit in global oil markets this year and next even as the group revives production, a view that clashes with the wider industry.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners will need to provide an average of 43.45 million barrels a day in the second half of this year, considerably more than the 42.4 million they pumped in August, a month in which they ramped up, according to a report.

Demand for the full alliance’s crude will average 43.1 million barrels a day in 2026, OPEC’s projections show.

The European Central Bank held interest rates steady on Thursday as economic uncertainty persists in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff agenda.

Ahead of the decision, markets had been pricing in around a 99% chance of the ECB’s key deposit facility rate being left at 2% for the second consecutive time. The central bank last cut rates in June, bringing rates further down from last year’s record high of 4%.

Novo Nordisk A/S’s new chief executive officer is calling workers back to the office as the Ozempic maker struggles to catch up with Eli Lilly & Co. in the hyper-competitive obesity market.

Office-based employees will need to come in five days a week starting Jan. 1, Novo said Thursday. The move comes a day after CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar announced the Danish drugmaker would slash its workforce by 11%.

Efforts to make the European Union’s financial regulations more attractive to investors would likely draw more green capital to the bloc, according to the EU’s financial services commissioner, Maria Luís Albuquerque.

“If our rules and our market features become more appealing, naturally that will attract more investment in the sustainability area, but also in other areas,” Albuquerque said in an interview on Thursday.

Efforts to make the European Union’s financial regulations more attractive to investors would likely draw more green capital to the bloc, according to the EU’s financial services commissioner, Maria Luís Albuquerque.

“If our rules and our market features become more appealing, naturally that will attract more investment on the sustainability area, but also in other areas,” Albuquerque said in an interview on Thursday.

The International Monetary Fund has determined that Ukraine’s funding needs over the next two years may be as much as $20 billion higher than the government in Kyiv estimates, as talks to secure the next aid package are set to begin.

The discrepancy emerged during the meetings IMF staff has held in Kyiv over the last week to discuss external financing for 2026 and 2027, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Reconciling the differences is crucial before the Washington-based lender considers Ukraine’s request for a new loan program as the current funding runs out.

Stocks extended gains ahead of Thursday’s highly anticipated inflation report, seen as key to shaping expectations for the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path this year.

Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.2% after back-to-back all-time highs. European stocks climbed 0.3%, led by construction and retail shares. The dollar firmed. Treasuries held steady, with the 10-year yield at 4.04%.

Investors who have watched shares in Adobe Inc. get left behind in the AI craze have little reason for optimism ahead of the software maker’s latest quarterly results.

Wall Street is expecting a full-year sales forecast for growth of nearly 10% — a solid rate of expansion, but one that would be the slowest for Adobe in over a decade. Analysts see the pace receding every year through fiscal 2028, at a time when investors can target clearer AI winners like Oracle Corp. that are anticipating accelerating growth in the coming years.

As Mexico slaps steep tariffs on Asian imports, South Korea’s lack of a free trade deal with the Latin American country puts it at a disadvantage to Japanese rival carmakers.

Higher tariffs are expected to apply to a list of more than 1,400 categories of products coming from countries with which Mexico has no trade agreement. China, South Korea and India are among those exporters that would be hit if Congress approves the levies.

Gold edged lower, erasing some earlier gains that came after a surprise drop in US producer prices, which supported the case for the Federal Reserve to ease policy. Bullion fell as much as 0.7% to $3,614.26 an ounce, about $50 below the peak set earlier this week.

US producer prices unexpectedly fell for the first time in four months, supporting traders’ bets that US borrowing costs will be reduced next week. The next economic gauge to watch will be consumer price figures due later Thursday.

China should develop chips to create AI that doesn’t rely on the type of accelerators popularised by Nvidia Corp., a top government adviser said, warning that Asian companies in particular risk becoming beholden to US technology.

Asian nations, including China, should reduce their dependence on the general-purpose graphics processing units now used around the world to train platforms from ChatGPT to DeepSeek, Wei Shaojun, a professor at Beijing-based Tsinghua University, told a forum in Singapore.

Citigroup Inc.’s CEO said merger and acquisition activity is picking up as US companies grow more confident amid clearer policy direction, while a recession in the world’s largest economy appears unlikely.

Jane Fraser told Bloomberg TV that clients are “much more active” in capital markets, pursuing investments and deals following greater certainty around taxes, tariffs and deregulation. “Our client base now is really starting to act with confidence,” she added.

The US economic picture may be worsening, but for now, companies don’t show signs of firing employees, Wells Fargo Investment Institute strategist Scott Wren wrote.

“With the negative revisions to the prior month’s job gains taken into account, the domestic labour market is, at the very least, slowing noticeably,” he wrote. “But monthly job-creation numbers are not the only statistic to track. In most past cycles, initial jobless claims, reported every Thursday morning, have provided a good leading indicator for the likely path of domestic employment.”

Bond traders are bracing for today’s US inflation report, which could challenge their expectations of a series of steep Federal Reserve rate cuts beginning this month and extending into 2026.

Recent soft jobs data and subdued producer-price inflation have led the market to price in a near-certain quarter-point rate cut at the Fed’s September 16-17 meeting, with the possibility of two additional reductions before year-end.

Ryanair Holdings Plc Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Leary is bracing for airspace incursions like the drone barrage that disrupted Polish flights on Wednesday to continue.

“This is going to be an ongoing issue for all airlines for the next number of years,” O’Leary said Thursday at the Irish carrier’s annual general meeting in Dublin. He said Europe needs a strong response to what he called “Russian prodding.”

Oil prices eased some of their recent gains as a weaker supply forecast dampened concerns over geopolitical risks. The International Energy Agency (IEA) raised its outlook for a record oil surplus next year, pointing to increased production from OPEC+ and rising output from other suppliers.

Following the report, Brent crude wavered but stayed above $67 a barrel, still climbing more than 2.5% for the week. The pullback follows a three-day rally driven by rising tensions in the Middle East and Europe. US President Donald Trump’s criticism of Israel’s attack on Doha and Russia’s violation of Polish airspace briefly sparked a jump in futures as traders covered short positions.

S&P 500 futures were little changed Thursday, following another day of record highs, as Wall Street awaited a key consumer inflation gauge.

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