Wall Street edges higher as strong earnings and softer inflation offset oil price surge

BlackRock, BNY Mellon and Cintas lifted U.S. stocks after upbeat earnings, while softer inflation eased Fed rate hike expectations. Oil hit a one-month high amid the Iran conflict, with Treasury yields slipping.

U.S. stocks ticked higher Wednesday following strong profit reports from BlackRock and other big companies. The tentative gains came as oil prices swung to their highest levels in a month because of the war with Iran.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4% after flipping between modest gains and losses through the day and it?s back within 0.5% of its all-time high set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 150 points (0.3%) and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.6%.

BlackRock led the market with a rise of 6.6% after the company reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Bank of New York Mellon rose 5.1% after adding to the spate of strong earnings reports from many of the biggest U.S. banks a day earlier. Cintas climbed 4.4% after the provider of office uniforms, restroom supplies and other products likewise delivered a better profit for the latest quarter than analysts forecast. They helped offset a drop for Elevance Health which fell 8.5% even though it reported stronger profit and revenue than analysts expected.

A separate report said inflation that U.S. consumers are feeling was also not as bad as economists expected last month. The broad U.S. stock market got a lift from another report showing inflation slowed last month. It said inflation at the wholesale level slowed to 5.5% from 6% in May and it was much better than the acceleration that economists expected.

Following the inflation report, traders see just a 10% chance that the Fed will raise its main interest rate at its next meeting in a couple weeks which is lower from nearly 42% probability before the inflation reports, according to data from CME Group.

In China, stocks rose 1.4% in Hong Kong but fell 0.3% in Shanghai after the government said the world?s second-largest economy expanded at a 4.3% annualized pace last quarter, down from the 5% growth rate at the start of the year.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.55% from 4.58% late Tuesday and from 4.62% the day before.

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