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MAIN US INDEXES RISE AS COOLING INFLATION OFFSETS SOFTWARE-SECTOR WEAKNESS

The main U.S. indexes are modestly green early on Tuesday after softer-than-expected inflation data fueled bets that the Federal Reserve could take a less hawkish stance on interest rates, while investors assessed second-quarter results from major U.S. banks.

Meanwhile, in testimony prepared for delivery on Tuesday at the first of two congressional hearings this week, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh reiterated that his main thrust right now is to bring inflation back to the Fed's 2% target, a goal welcome among those he called his "superb colleagues" at the central bank but that may require him to disappoint President Trump's repeated hope for lower interest rates.

A majority of S&P 500 .SPX sectors are higher with materials .SPLRCM, up more than 1%, the top gainer. Healthcare .SPXHC, down more than 1%, is the biggest loser.

Under the surface, gold/silver miners .XAU, chip stocks .SOX and big banks .SPXBK are among the outperformers.

Software stocks .SPLRCIS are tumbling after IBM's IBM.N preliminary estimates reignited AI disruption fears.

Here is a snapshot of where markets stood around 9:55 a.m. ET.

(Terence Gabriel)

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EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS:

S&P 500 FUTURES SLIGHTLY GREEN AFTER COOL CPI CLICK HERE

HALF-TIME IN EUROPE: LOOKING TOUGH CLICK HERE

NOT JUST ABOUT OIL, REMEMBER GAS CLICK HERE

GOLDILOCKS RETURNS TO EUROPE, BUT OIL'S THE SPOILER CLICK HERE

BROAD-BASED LOSSES DRAG STOXX 600 LOWER CLICK HERE

BEFORE THE BELL: EUROPE SOFT AS US KICKS OFF EARNINGS SEASON CLICK HERE

FED IN THE SPOTLIGHT AS WARSH FACES CONGRESS CLICK HERE