S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite Hit New Highs After Benign CPI Inflation Report as Nvidia, AMD Lead Tech Stock Rally

Stocks rose in early trading, led by a tech sector rally, after a closely watched inflation report matched economists’ expectations, as the earnings reporting season kicked off with results from several major banks.

The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite were recently up 0.2% and 0.6%, respectively, trading at record high levels, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2%. Stocks had closed slightly higher on Monday, as investors brushed aside concerns about the latest in a flurry of recent announcements from President Donald Trump on the tariff rates that the U.S. plans to impose on countries around the world.

Consumer price data released this morning showed that annual inflation in June was 2.7%, up from 2.4% the month before but in line with the consensus estimate from economists. Analysts have been predicting that tariffs will spur inflation, but data in recent months haven’t indicated that price pressures have increased significantly. Nonetheless, inflation remains well above the Federal Reserve’s target, which dims market hopes that the central bank could be in a position to cut its benchmark interest rate any time soon.

Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) jumped 3.5% this morning after the semiconductor giant announced it would resume shipments of its H20 AI chips to China, after receiving assurances from the White House that current restrictions on those exports would be lifted. The AI investor favorite last week became first company ever to reach $4 trillion in market capitaliztion.

Chip stocks were rallying following the news from Nvidia. Among the noteworthy movers: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) surged 8% to lead S&P 500 advancers, while Arm Holdings (ARM) and Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) each rose more than 2%, and Broadcom (AVGO) and Micron (MU) both tacked on more than 1%. Shares of server maker Super Micro Computer (SMCI), a major Nvidia partner, climbed nearly 7%.

Other mega-cap technology stocks were mostly higher in early trading, though the moves were small. Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOG) and Tesla (TSLA) inched higher, while Meta Platforms (META) fell slightly.

Earnings reporting season kicked off in earnest this morning with several large banks releasing their second-quarter results. Shares of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) were hovering near unchanged, while Citigroup (C) gained more than 1% and Wells Fargo (WFC) dropped 4%, as investors digested results from the major financial institutions.

Bitcoin was losing ground after hitting a series of record highs over the past week. The digital currency was at $118,200 recently, down from around $120,000 yesterday afternoon but up from an overnight low of $116,300. The digital currency hit an all-time high of $123,000 early Monday.

Gold futures were down 0.4% at $3,345 an ounce, after rising to a three-week high earlier this morning, while West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, slipped 0.5% to $66.60 per barrel, after tumbling more than 2% yesterday.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects borrowing costs on all sorts of loans, notably mortgages, was at 4.43%, unchanged from yesterday’s close. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the performance of the dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, was up 0.2% at 98.31, continuing a streak of modest gains posted over the past week.