Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were rising after cooler-than-expected inflation as the Federal Reserve starts its two-day policy meeting.
At 10:38 ET (14:38 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 146 points or 0.4%, while the S&P 500 is up 0.5% and the NASDAQ Composite is up 0.5%.
Data out this morning showed inflation rising 4% in May from last year, a cooler pace than expected. Without food and fuel, prices rose 5.3% from last year, meeting expectations.
Cooler-than-expected inflation could encourage the Federal Reserve to hold off on another interest rate increase this week, as policymakers head into their two-day meeting today. Futures markets have anticipated the probability of a pause while Fed officials step back to assess how their actions have worked so far. The Fed has raised rates at its 10 last meetings.
But a pause doesn’t necessarily mean the Fed will be done for good. Many expect it will return to rate increases in July if inflation doesn’t show signs of returning toward its 2% target.
Investors will be listening closely to what Fed Chair Jerome Powell says during his press conference on Wednesday after the Fed releases its rate policy decision and its latest set of forecasts about inflation, unemployment and economic output.
Tech stocks have led indexes higher, pulling the S&P 500 out of a bear market to a fresh 52-week high on Monday. Big tech firms including Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) and the electric vehicle maker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) are helping to lead the group, while Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) notched a new record high.
Shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) rose 2.3% after it beat quarterly revenue estimates and forecast an upbeat future, while shares of chip maker Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) rose 1.5% after it started talks with SoftBank Group’s (TYO:9984) Arm to be an anchor investor in its initial public offering.
Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) shares are down 0.1% as the company kicked off its investor day.