U.S. Stocks Advance Ahead of Bernanke’s Testimony

U.S. stocks rose, rebounding from yesterday’s drop, amid bets Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will hint at more stimulus during testimony to Congress.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) gained 0.4 percent to 1,358.84 as of 9:30 a.m. in New York. The U.S. equity benchmark lost 0.2 percent yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 30.35 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,757.56 today.

“The market is looking for the Fed chairman to be fairly definitive,” Jim Russell, the Cincinnati-based chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, which oversees about $103 billion, said in a phone interview. “Certainly the CPI numbers give the Fed ample room to be even more accommodative than what they’ve done before. They have room to be aggressive.”

Bernanke will deliver his semi-annual report on the economy and monetary policy before Congress today and tomorrow. Data yesterday showing a contraction in June retail sales kindled speculation the Fed will introduce more measures to support the world’s largest economy. The cost of living in the U.S. was little changed in June, a sign inflation may stay subdued.

No change in the consumer-price index followed a 0.3 percent drop in May, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. The measure matched the median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The so-called core measure that excludes volatile food and fuel costs rose 0.2 percent for a fourth month.

By Inyoung Hwang
Read More: Bloomberg