Wall Street stocks advanced on Wednesday following another benign US inflation report as oil prices edged higher following the latest escalation of fighting between the United States and Iran.

Major US indices withstood a midday swoon into negative territory to push higher, with tech giants like Apple, Amazon and Facebook parent Meta rising three percent or more.

The US producer price index slipped 0.3 percent month-on-month in June, reflecting lower energy prices amid a hoped-for Middle East conflict settlement, data showed.

The report came on the heels of Tuesday data that showed consumer prices rising less than expected.

"I think the market was comforted today by the market-friendly PPI report, which followed on yesterday's market-friendly CPI report," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare. "But we still have a market that's kind of trading sideways, holding near its all-time highs, but not breaking out as of yet."

The S&P 500 finished up 0.4 percent.

Oil prices ticked higher as the United States launched a wave of strikes against Iran, which has vowed to shut down anew the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that is crucial for global oil and gas flows.

Traffic through the waterway remained low, with maritime tracker Kpler reporting only 21 transits on Tuesday.

Economist Samuel Tombs of Pantheon Macroeconomics said Wednesday's US inflation report was "broadly reassuring."

"But the big question of how much of the surge in energy prices feeds through to consumer prices will take several more months to answer," he warned in a note.

Nearly a month after they signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the Middle East war, the United States and Iran have resumed fighting with strikes on targets across the region.

Leading Wall Street risers was PayPal, which surged more than 17 percent on reports payments firm Stripe and private equity group Advent International have made a joint offer to buy the digital payments pioneer in a deal worth a reported US$53 billion, with the offer of US$60.50 a share.

SpaceX dropped 0.6 percent to finish at US$135.27 after slipping below its market debut price of US$135 for the first time earlier in the day.

In Europe, London and Frankfurt ended the day lower. Paris managed a small gain.

In Asia, Seoul jumped more than six percent on the back of an 8.8-percent rally in chip giant SK hynix.

In foreign exchange markets, the pound rose more than one percent against the dollar following reports that UK home secretary Shabana Mahmood is a frontrunner to become the next finance minister, eclipsing some other options seen as less assuring to markets.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4 percent, to 7,572, the Dow rose 0.3 percent, to 52,658, while the Nasdaq rose 0.6 percent, to 26,269. (AFP)



Edited by Robert Kemp