US equities advanced on Tuesday as investors digested June inflation data and looked ahead to the second-quarter earnings season.
The S&P 500 rose 0.5%, the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended little changed.
The June consumer price index rose 0.3% month-on-month, with annual inflation at 2.7%, in line with Dow Jones estimates.
Core CPI, which strips out food and energy, rose 0.2% on the month and 2.9% year-over-year — also matching forecasts but showing some moderation in price pressures.
Nvidia led market gains, jumping more than 4% after the company said it aims to resume H20 GPU deliveries to China.
The news lifted chip stocks broadly and helped drive gains in the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
Investor focus now shifts to corporate earnings.
The bar for the second quarter is low, with S&P 500 companies expected to report blended earnings growth of just 4.3% year-on-year, according to FactSet — the weakest pace since Q4 2023.
Despite subdued expectations, equity indices remain at all-time highs, adding pressure on companies to deliver solid results or better guidance.
US inflation picks up, but in line with expectations
US consumer prices rose in June as the effects of President Donald Trump’s tariffs began to filter through the economy.
According to data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the consumer price index (CPI) increased 0.3% from the previous month, bringing the annual inflation rate to 2.7%.
Both figures were in line with expectations from economists polled by Dow Jones.
Core inflation, which excludes the more volatile food and energy components, rose 0.2% month-over-month.
On a year-over-year basis, core CPI stood at 2.9%, also matching consensus estimates.
Bank earnings
JPMorgan Chase topped Wall Street expectations in the second quarter, reporting earnings of $5.24 per share on revenue of $45.68 billion.
While that marked a 17% drop in earnings and a 10% decline in revenue from the same quarter last year, the year-ago figures were inflated by a $7.9 billion gain from Visa shares.
Excluding that, the underlying performance remained solid. CEO Jamie Dimon said the US economy remained resilient during the quarter but cautioned against risks tied to tariffs, trade uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, and elevated asset prices.
Wells Fargo also beat second-quarter profit estimates but cut its full-year outlook for net interest income (NII), sending the stock down 2% in early trading.
The bank now expects NII in 2025 to be roughly flat compared to 2024’s $47.7 billion, revising down its prior forecast of low-single-digit growth.
The guidance cut was attributed to weaker-than-expected interest income from its markets division.
Analysts had already flagged concerns about the bank’s ability to meet its NII targets after a sluggish start to the year.
Earnings from Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley are due Wednesday.
The post US stocks climb at open: S&P up 0.5%, Nasdaq surges around 1% appeared first on Invezz
