U.S. stocks opened slightly higher on Thursday, as investors parsed fresh data on inflation that showed headline consumer prices rose last month slightly more than expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
was up 0.1% soon after the opening bell, while the S&P 500
SPX,
rose 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
edged up 0.1% according to FactSet data, at last check. Inflation, as measured by the consumer-price index, rose 0.4% in September, according to a report Thursday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was slightly more than the 0.3% increase forecast by economists polled by the Wall Street Journal. Core CPI, which omits food and energy prices, climbed 0.3% last month, in line with the economists’ expectations.
The annual pace of headline inflation was steady at 3.7% in the 12 months through September, while the core CPI rate eased to 4.1% in the year through last month, from 4.3% in August. In the bond market, Treasury yields were rising. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was up three basis points at 4.60%, while the two-year yields climbed about five basis points to around 5.05%, according to FactSet data, at last check.
