Tech stocks lift Wall Street
The S&P 500 has notched a record-high close, fuelled by advances in Sandisk and other heavyweight technology stocks, as tame producer price inflation data supported expectations the Federal Reserve will not raise interest rates at its September meeting.
Memory chip makers Sandisk and Micron Technology surged 13.7 per cent and 4.2 per cent respectively while Microsoft added almost 1.0 per cent and Meta Platforms rose 2.8 per cent.
Shares of AI cloud company CoreWeave dipped 1.3 per cent. The stock surged 19 per cent a day earlier after the company lifted its annual capital spending forecast.
Strong forecasts in recent weeks from companies including Microsoft and Amazon have reduced investors' concerns about massive spending on AI data centres.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.65 per cent to end the session at 7,798.99 points - exceeding its record high close last Friday - while the Nasdaq gained 0.81 per cent to 26,803.03 points and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.13 per cent to 53,839.99 points.
Seven of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes rose, led by communication services, up 1.56 per cent, followed by a 1.34 per cent gain in real estate.
Fed outlook improves
The S&P 500 is up about 14 per cent in 2026 while the Nasdaq has gained about 15 per cent.
Fresh data showed US producer prices were unchanged in July as goods prices fell and the cost of services increased marginally, while the number of Americans filing new unemployment claims rose moderately last week, pointing to a stable labour market.
Traders are pricing in a 63 per cent chance that the Fed will keep interest rates unchanged at its meeting next month, according to CME's FedWatch tool.
Middle East tensions persist
Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree on a permanent end to the Iran war, according to a senior Iranian source, while traffic through the vital Strait of Hormuz remained severely curtailed.
Brent crude oil futures closed about 2.0 per cent lower at $US87.07 a barrel.
The S&P 500 posted 30 new highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 155 new highs and 85 new lows.
Volume on US exchanges was light, with 16.1 billion shares traded compared to an average of 17.5 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions.
