Nasdaq Clinches New High Ahead of This Week's August Inflation Data

05:02 PM EDT, 09/08/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The Nasdaq Composite hit a record high on Monday as Wall Street geared up for August inflation data due later this week, while remaining optimistic that the Federal Reserve will embark on a series of interest rate cuts next week.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.5% to 21,798.7. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3% at 45,515, while the S&P 500 climbed 0.2% to 6,495.2. Among sectors, technology paced the gainers, while utilities saw the steepest decline.

The official US producer price report for last month is scheduled to be released Wednesday, followed by consumer inflation data on Thursday.

The consumer price index is expected to have increased 0.3% sequentially and 2.9% annually in August, according to a Bloomberg-compiled consensus.

"A hotter (above expectation) CPI reading caused by stronger demand or tariff pass-through could complicate the Fed's rate-cutting deliberations and would possibly not be good news for equity markets," D.A. Davidson said in a note. "A softer CPI reading would support the lower rate trajectory."

Markets are currently pricing in an 88% probability that the central bank's Federal Open Market Committee will reduce its benchmark lending rate by a quarter percentage point next week, with the remaining odds in favor of a 50-basis-point cut, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

The Fed will likely cut rates twice after its meeting on Sept. 17, with the central bank unlikely to adopt an aggressive approach to monetary policy easing, Oppenheimer Asset Management said in a Monday note.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell recently indicated a potential monetary policy pivot, saying that downside risks to employment were rising, while the effects of tariffs on inflation will likely be short lived.

A soft jobs report released Friday stoked fears about a slowing labor market, triggering some market participants to bet on a bigger Fed rate cut at this month's meeting.

On Monday, a survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed that the expectation of finding a new job hit a record low level last month.

US Treasury yields were lower, with the 10-year rate falling 3.1 basis points to 4.05% and the two-year rate losing 1.6 basis point to 3.5%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 0.8% at $62.39 a barrel in Monday late-afternoon trade.

On Sunday, eight members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies agreed to raise October output by 137,000 barrels per day. That's smaller than just under 550,000 barrels added in September and August each, and 411,000-barrel gains in each of the prior three months.

"Riyadh and its allies signaled a decisive pivot: defending market share now outweighs defending prices," Rystad Energy said. "The headline volume may look marginal, but the messaging is not."

In company news, Uber Technologies (UBER) shares were up 3.7%, the second-biggest gainer on the S&P 500. The ride-hailing company will replace Charter Communications (CHTR) in the S&P 100 index, effective Sept. 22, S&P Global (SPGI) division S&P Dow Jones Indices said late Friday.

AppLovin (APP) , Robinhood Markets (HOOD) , and Emcor Group (EME) will join the benchmark S&P 500 index, S&P Dow Jones said. Robinhood surged 16%, while AppLovin (APP) jumped almost 12%. Emcor (EME) was down 0.6%.

EchoStar (SATS) shares soared 20% after the company agreed to sell its wireless spectrum licenses to space technology company SpaceX in a cash-and-stock deal worth about $17 billion.

Gold was up 0.6% at $3,676.70 per troy ounce, while silver added 0.9% to $41.92 per ounce.

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