Dow Jones Today: Stock Futures Holding Steady Ahead of CPI Inflation Report as S&P 500, Nasdaq Near Record Highs

Stocks moved higher in early trading Tuesday after highly anticipated inflation numbers came in largely as expected. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) was up 1% recently, while the S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) added 0.6% and 0.5%, respectively. The tech-heavy Nasdaq touched a new record high this morning and is on pace for its third record close in the past four sessions, while the benchmark S&P 500 is poised for its first record close since July 28. Major indexes were coming off a slightly lower finish on Monday, after posting their biggest weekly gains since June last week.

The Consumer Price Index report released this morning showed that annual inflation held steady from the previous month at 2.7% in July, slightly better than economists had expected, while core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was a tad higher than anticipated. The stock market’s early reaction to the data seems to indicate that investors remain optimistic that the Federal Reserve will be in a position to cut interest rates at its next policy committee meeting in September. Expectations for rate cuts, along with reduced concerns about the impact of tariffs and the economic outlook, have helped boost stocks to record-high levels recently.

Shares of the world’s largest technology companies, which have an outsized influence on the broader market, were mixed in early trading. Meta Platforms (META) rose 2%, while Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOG) and Broadcom (AVGO) inched higher. Nvidia (NVDA) and Tesla (TSLA) were each down 1%, while Amazon (AMZN) fell slightly.

Among other noteworthy movers this morning, shares of embattled chipmaker Intel (INTC) were up more than 2%, adding to yesterday’s gain of nearly 4%, after CEO Lip-Bu Tan met with President Donald Trump at the White House. Trump, who on Friday had called for the CEO to step down, said late Monday in a post on Truth Social that Tan’s success is “an amazing story,” adding that Cabinet members will be having more meetings with Tan in the coming days.

Shares of Circle Internet Group (CRCL) climbed 5% after the USDC stablecoin issuer released a solid earnings report. It was Circle’s first earnings report as a publicly traded company, after carrying out an IPO in June.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which affects borrowing costs on all sorts of loans, notably mortgages, was at 4.31% recently, up from 4.27% at yesterday’s close. The yield fell as low as 4.18% last week, its lowest level in three months, as market expectations for interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve increased after a weak July jobs report.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the performance of the dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, was down 0.3% at 98.26 in recent trading.

Bitcoin was trading at $119,200, little changed from Monday afternoon. The digital currency had jumped as high as $122,300 early Monday, not far from its record high of $123,200 set in mid-July.

Gold futures were down 0.2% at $3,395 an ounce, after hitting a record high late last week of just above $3,500. The price of the precious metal, which had been supported in part by reports that gold bars would be subject to tariffs, fell sharply after the White House said that gold imports would not be subject to import levies.

West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, fell 0.8% to $63.50 per barrel. Oil prices, which stabilized yesterday after seven straight days of declines, are trading at their lowest levels since early June.