© Reuters. By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com — U.S. stock markets opened higher on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell once again shrugged off the spike in U.S. inflation as only temporary.
In prepared remarks ahead of his testimony to Congress, Powell said “there is still a long way to go” to repairing a labor market that is still 7.5 million jobs short of its level before the pandemic erupted in early 2020.
By 9:40 AM ET (1340 GMT), the was up 132 points, or 0.4%, at 35,020 points, while the was up 0.5% and the was up 0.5%. All three indices had fallen on Tuesday in response to the news that U.S. consumer inflation hit an annual rate of 5.4% in June.
Powell’s comments were published within minutes of more data showing the U.S. producer prices rose faster than expected in June too. The PPI leaped to 7.3%, due in large measure to companies expanding their margins against a backdrop of product shortages.
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