Sawt Falasteen - S&P 500 ends at record as markets await key US consumer price data

The Federal Reserve has been widely expected to cut interest rates at its meeting next week, but there is debate about whether the central bank will signal likely additional cuts in 2025.

The US producer price index (PPI) dipped 0.1 percent on a month-on-month basis, according to Department of Labor data -- when analysts had expected a 0.3-percent increase.

The producer data suggests "muted" inflation impact from tariffs and that "businesses are absorbing at least part of tariff costs," said a note from FHN Financial's Will Compernolle. "Nothing in today's data should sway the Fed from cutting rates next week."

Markets are also currently betting on additional Fed rate cuts in October and December. But those moves are considered less certain and could be influenced by Thursday's consumer price data.

Fed policy makers have lately described the state of the job market as more pressing than inflation.

Elsewhere, Tokyo's stock market ended at an all-time high, as did Seoul where South Korean traders were hopeful the government will not implement plans to lower the capital gains tax threshold for stocks.

In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 ended the day with a slight gain as a new prime minister took office in France.

President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday appointed Sebastien Lecornu as prime minister, one day after his predecessor Francois Bayrou lost a confidence vote in parliament over planned austerity measures to reduce France's debt.

"The failure of... (the) austerity push signals that compromise will be needed, but for now, investors are focusing on the near-term boost to sentiment rather than the longer-term fiscal risks," noted Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.

Oil prices rose moderately as markets eye increased geopolitical risk following Israel's strike on Qatar targeting Hamas.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told CNN that an unprecedented Israeli strike in Doha targeting Hamas killed hope for Gaza hostages, calling for Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to be "brought to justice".

Software giant Oracle surged 36 percent after projecting huge revenue growth in the next few years as it prospers from the artificial intelligence investment boom.

Oracle projected that its cloud business revenues would grow 77 percent in the current fiscal year to $18 billion. In subsequent years, revenues are expected to rise to $32 billion, $73 billion, $114 billion, and $144 billion.

- Key figures at around 2030 GMT -

New York - Dow: DOWN 0.5 percent at 45,490.92 (close)

New York - S&P 500: UP 0.3 percent at 6,532.04 (close)

New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP less than 0.1 percent at 21,886.06 (close)

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 9,225.39 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 7,761.32 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.4 percent at 23,632.95 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.9 percent at 43,837.67 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 1.0 percent at 26,200.26 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 3,812.22 (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1696 from $1.1708 on Tuesday

Pound/dollar: FLAT at $1.3528

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 147.40 from 147.41 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.46 pence from 86.56 pence

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.7 percent at $67.49 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.7 percent at $63.67 per barrel

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E.Aziz--SF-PST