Stock market today: Indexes rise as investors assess producer inflation and jobless claims data

The rate of growth of producer prices saw a slight uptick in August.

Indexes edged higher Thursday as investors mulled new inflation data and jobless claims.

In the second inflation reading of the week, the producer price index rose 0.2% from July to August, in line with expectations.

That index, which measures the prices that producers receive for their goods and services, comes a day after the consumer price index showed a surprise increase in the monthly core inflation figure, with prices inching up 0.3% in August.

The monthly increase dashed hopes of a large initial rate cut from the Federal Reserve, and led to a brief stock market sell-off before indexes pared losses by the end of Wednesday’s session.

Headline inflation, meanwhile, slowed on a year-to-year basis to 2.5%.

Weekly jobless claims were in line with expectations, up to 230,000 from a revised 228,000 in the previous week, according to Labor Department data.

That slight increase follows two weeks of declines, and comes as the Fed appears laser-focused on the labor market ahead of its meeting next week, where its largely expected to cut rates by 25 basis points.

The Fed will meet next Tuesday and Wednesday and will deliver its decision on interest rates at the end of its two-day meeting.

Here’s where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Thursday:

• S&P 500: 5,560.64, up 0.12%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 40,885.60, up 0.01% (+4.63 points)
• Nasdaq composite: 17,413.27, up 0.1%

Here’s what else is going on today:

• The market is acting like Harris won last night’s debate against Trump.
• Plunging oil prices could help the US avoid recession, according to market vet Ed Yardeni.
• This corner of the stock market is set to outperform once the Fed starts cutting interest rates, Goldman Sachs says.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto:

• Oil futures rose. WTI crude increased 1.44% to $68.31 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 1.2% to $71.52 a barrel.
• Gold was up almost 1% to $2,566 per ounce.
• The 10-year Treasury yield rose one basis point to 3.672%.
• Bitcoin rose 0.31% to $57,745.72