Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com

US STOCKS ADVANCE ON PPI MISS, BANK EARNINGS BOOST; S&P 500 NEARS RECORD HIGHS

Wall Street stocks gained ground on Wednesday as softening inflation data and a robust beginning of second-quarter earnings season put investors in a buying mood.

The Labor Department's Producer Price Index (PPI) report provided a second straight day of cooler-than-expected inflation data, easing near-term pressure on the central bank to raise its key interest rate. With this, a second day of robust bank earnings added momentum to an auspicious beginning to second-quarter reporting season.

That said, in the end, it was a choppy and somewhat muted session. The S&P 500 gapped up at the open, rallied as much as 0.5% into a first-hour high, then turned negative on the day. It then firmed to end up about 0.4% on the day.

Additionally, S&P 500 sectors ended mixed with five up, five down, and one unchanged. Communication Services .SPLRCL, up more than 2.5%, led gainers. Utilities .SPLRCU, off 1%, was the weakest group.

Mag 7 .MAGS.K stocks, regional .KRX and big banks .SPXBK, as well as software & services .SPLRCIS were among outperformers.

Chip stocks .SOX as a group, even as ASML ASML.AS, ASML.O raised its 2026 revenue and gross margin outlook and increased long-term EUV production capacity targets, were on the weak side. The SOX lost more than 2%.

Of note, the SPXBK and the S&P 500 financial sector .SPSY both scored record closing highs. Quality QUAL.P and Apple AAPL.O also notched record finishes.

The S&P 500 index ended at 7,572.40, putting it down just 0.49% from its 7,609.78 June 2 record closing high and down around 0.64% from its 7,620.90 June 2 record intraday peak.

Here is a snapshot of where markets stood shortly after 4 p.m.

(Terence Gabriel)

*****

EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS:

S&P 500 RALLY FACES TEST FROM WEAK SEASONAL TRENDS, SAYS SENTIMENTRADER CLICK HERE

BOFA CLIENTS SCOOP UP STOCKS FOR SECOND STRAIGHT WEEK CLICK HERE

COOLER THAN THE SUN: PPI, EMPIRE STATE, MORTGAGE DEMAND CLICK HERE

S&P 500 CLIMBS TOWARD RECORD TERRITORY ON SOFT INFLATION, STRONG BANK EARNINGS CLICK HERE

S&P 500 FUTURES EDGE HIGHER, YIELDS FALL AFTER SOFT PPI CLICK HERE

HOW ABOUT A GAULLIST LE PEN CLICK HERE

BETTING TOO HEAVILY ON A PATIENT FED CLICK HERE

UBS' FOUR REASONS FOR LIKING EUROPEAN STOCKS CLICK HERE

ASML CAN'T STEM THE SELLING TIDE IN EUROPE CLICK HERE

BEFORE THE BELL: EUROPE'S BRIEF AI PARTY CLICK HERE