US Dow, S&P 500 hit record highs on slowing inflation growth

The US stocks extended gains for the fourth consecutive session on Wednesday, 11 August 2021, with the Dow and the S&P500 indexes closing at fresh record high, on calming concerns over monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve after a popular measure of inflation slowed in the month of July.

At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index advanced 220.30 points, or 0.62%, to 35,484.97. The S&P 500 index added 10.95 points, or 0.25%, to 4,447.70. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was down 22.95 points, or 0.16%, to 14,765.14.

Total 11 of 11 S&P500 sectors advanced, with materials (up 1.42%) sector was top performer, followed by industrials (up 1.3%), financials (up 1.17%), utilities (up 0.92%), and energy (up 0.75%) sectors, while healthcare (down 0.97%) sector was worst performer.

Total volume turnover on U.S. exchanges was 7.77 billion shares, down from previous session volume of 8.09 billion shares. In the NYSE exchange, 2205 issues advanced, 1084 issues declined, and 175 issues closed unchanged. In the NASDAQ, 2324 issues advanced, 2024 issues declined, and 240 issues unchanged.

Top five advancing stocks were Rani Therapeutics Holdings Inc (up 50.3%), Dyadic International Inc (up 47.1%), AeroCentury Corp (up 46.4%), Joby Aviation Inc (up 33.6%), and Doximity Inc (up 33%), while bottom five declining stocks included PetVivo Holdings Inc (down 57.9%), HyreCar Inc (down 48.5%), ON24 Inc (down 31%), AppHarvest Inc. (down 28.9%), and Biodesix Inc (down 26.3%).

Stocks tied to economic growth advanced on the heels of the passage of a large infrastructure bill. Shares of equipment maker Caterpillar Inc advanced 3.55% and Deere & Co gained 2.51%. Construction materials supplier Vulcan Materials Co was up 3.2% and steelmaker Nucor Corp rose 3.9% on expectations of benefiting from infrastructure projects.

NortonLifeLock Inc jumped 8.70% after the cybersecurity company agreed to buy London-listed rival Avast for up to $8.6 billion.

ECONOMIC NEWS: The Consumer Price Index rose 0.5% in July, deceleration from the 0.9% gain seen the month prior according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data released on Wednesday. Excluding higher food and energy prices, core consumer prices rose by 0.3% in July after surging by 0.9% in June. The annual rate of growth in core prices slowed to 4.3% in July from 4.5% in June. Compared to the same month a year ago, consumer prices in July were up by 5.4%, unchanged from the annual rate of growth seen in June.

Among Indian ADR, INFOSYS rose 0.9% to $22.99, Vedanta added 6.1% to $17.66, Tata Motors added 1.5% to $20.04, and WNS Holdings added 1% to $82.52. HDFC Bank fell 0.45% to $75.02, Dr Reddys Labs fell 0.3% to $63.41, Wipro fell 0.23% to $8.53, and ICICI Bank fell 0.95% to $18.85.

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