S&P 500 ends higher as strong inflation data cements rate hike bets

Traders working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Sept 9 in New York City.

NEW YORK – Wall Street ended higher on Sept 11 as oil prices retreated and strong consumer price data reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next week to fight inflation.

Dell, maker of artificial intelligence servers, soared 12 per cent to a record high. Hewlett Packard Enterprise jumped 12 per cent and HP gained 8.4 per cent after Oracle’s quarterly results topped estimates. Oracle dipped 1.8 per cent.

US consumer prices accelerated in August as the cost of petrol rebounded after two straight monthly declines, adding pressure on the Fed to tighten monetary policy to fight inflation.

Interest rate futures now reflect a nearly 90 per cent probability that the central bank will raise rates at its policy meeting on Sept 16, according to the CME FedWatch tool. This is up from a 72 per cent likelihood on Sept 10.

“That’s pretty much as close to a slam dunk as you’re going to get,” said Thomas Martin, senior ⁠portfolio manager at Globalt Investments in Atlanta.

“The Fed will do the right thing and raise rates, and that is good at the margin for keeping inflation in check.”

The Nasdaq gained 0.96 per cent to 26,333.04 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.98 per cent to 52,573.29 points.

Nine of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes rose, led by communication services, up 1.35 per cent, followed by a 1.13 per cent gain in consumer discretionary.

Volume on US exchanges was relatively light, with 14 billion shares traded, compared with an average of 14.9 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions.

The Sept 11 rally follows recent nervousness on Wall Street related to inflation and rising long-term Treasury yields, as well as concerns about massive spending to build AI data centres. The S&P 500 is down about 2 per cent from its record-high close on Aug 13, and it remains up 12 per cent in 2026.

The S&P 500’s recent decline, coupled with a strong earnings outlook, has the benchmark trading at 19 times expected earnings. This is its cheapest since April 2025, when US President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcements threw global markets into a tailspin.