Wall Street stocks were in the green early on Friday as investors digested key inflation data.
As of 1455 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.40% at 35,896.42, while the S&P 5000 was 0.58% firmer at 4,694.73 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.42% stronger at 15,582.04.
The Dow opened 141.73 points higher on Thursday after the blue-chip index was stopped short of a fourth-straight day of gains.
Friday’s primary focus was the revelation that US inflation had surged to a 39-year high in November amid supply constraints, according to the Labor Department. Consumer prices rose 0.8% on the month, down from 0.9% growth in October and taking the annual rate to 6.8%, up from 6.2% the month before. This marked the biggest annual jump since 1982.
Core CPI, which strips out volatile items such as food and energy, rose 0.5% in November from a 0.6% increase the month before. Over the last 12 month, core CPI increased 4.9% – the largest annual increase since the period ending June 1991. Economists expected to see a higher inflation print of around 0.7%.
The reading was also seen as having the potential to lead the Federal Reserve to speed up the tapering of its $120.0bn monthly bond-buying programme.
Elsewhere on the macro front, a preliminary reading of the University of Michigan’s December consumer sentiment index will be published at 1500 GMT and the Federal Government’s budget statement for last month will be released at 1900 GMT.
No major corporate earning were slated for release on Friday.
