Stocks catapulted higher out of the gate Tuesday and stayed that way through the close as a weaker-than-expected inflation update ramped up expectations the Federal Reserve is done hiking interest rates.
Ahead of the opening bell, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the October Consumer Price Index (CPI) was flat on a month-over-month basis and up 3.2% year-over-year.
Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was up 0.2% compared to August and 4.0% vs October 2022, the latter of which represented the smallest annual increase since September 2021.
The October CPI report "should likely keep the Fed from raising interest rates at next month's meeting," says Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial. However, the economist also believes that despite the deceleration in price growth, "the Fed will likely continue to speak hawkishly and will keep warning investors not to be complacent about [its] resolve to get inflation down to the long-run 2% target."
Home Depot pops after earnings
Today's rally was broad-based, with all 11 S&P 500 sectors closing higher. Real estate led the charge with its 5.4% gain, though consumer discretionary stocks (+3.4%) were near the top of the pack thanks to a positive reaction to Home Depot (HD) earnings.
The blue chip stock surged 5.4% today after the home improvement retailer reported higher-than-expected third-quarter earnings of $3.81 per share on revenue of $37.7 billion. Home Depot also disclosed a same-store-sales decline (-3.1%) that was narrower than Wall Street projected.
The company was cautious in its guidance, however, amid what CEO Ted Decker calls "a period of moderation for home improvement spend."
Jon Bostock, CEO of home improvement products company Leaf Home, expects this period of moderation to continue into 2024. Consumers will still spend disposable income on home projects, just at a slower pace than we've seen in recent years, the executive adds, which should result in a low single-digit growth forecast for Home Depot's upcoming fiscal year.
Snap sizzles on new Amazon partnership
Snap (SNAP) was another big mover on Tuesday, with the communication services stock soaring 7.5%. Boosting shares was news the company has inked a deal with Amazon.com (AMZN, +2.3%) that will allow Snapchat users to buy products directly from the e-commerce giant via ads on the social media platform.
As for the major indexes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1.4% to 34,827, the S&P 500 gained 1.9% to 4,495, and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.4% to 14,094.
