Wall Street digested a surprisingly cool wholesale inflation reading and more big bank earnings, with one eye on Trump's latest tariff moves.

U.S. stocks opened moderately higher on Wednesday, boosted by a tamer-than-expected inflation reading and blowout quarterly results from big banks.

U.S. stock indexes are ticking higher on Wednesday following a better-than-expected update on inflation across the country. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% in early trading and approaching its all-time high set last week.

Value stocks will outperform growth stocks in coming months if inflation heats up.

Inflation is up, stocks are down, and more tariffs are on their way. Trump wants interest rates to come down but the direction of travel is making it less likely that the Fed will deliver the cuts he wants. It’s not clear whether Trump can extract himself from the policy cycle he has created.

JPMorgan, Wells Fargo lead the banks whose quarterly results may offer clues on how consumers and companies fared during a volatile period. The S&P 500 climbed 0.1%, and the Nasdaq rose 0.3% to a record.

Live Updates Live Coverage Updates appear automatically as they are published. Oil Cools Off 9:38 am Citigroup downgraded a pair of oil refinery stocks this morning, cutting both Valero (NYSE: VLO) and Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) to neutral.

A rally that has taken U.S. stocks to record highs will be tested in the coming week by the kick-off of corporate earnings season and a key inflation report as investors hope to learn more about the economic fallout from tariffs.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and other major indexes were mostly higher Wednesday, as Wall Street digested cooler-than-expected inflation data. Meanwhile, chip stock ASMLASML plunged on the stock market today after the company warned it couldn't guarantee growth in 2026 due to tariff uncertainty.

U.S. stocks are drifting higher following some mixed data on inflation and profits at some of the biggest U.S. banks.