(Updates with market moves at the end of the day.)
US equities rose Wednesday, driving major indexes higher for a second straight day as traders digested another softer-than-expected inflation report.
The Nasdaq Composite closed 0.6% higher at 26,269.2, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.4% to 7,572.4. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3% to settle at 52,658.6. Among sectors, communication services saw the biggest gain, while utilities led the laggards.
Technology giant Apple (AAPL) was the best performer on the Dow, up 4%. The iPhone maker has held talks with bankers in recent months about possible acquisitions of chip companies, The Information reported, citing unnamed sources.
Other tech majors also advanced, with Alphabet's (GOOGL) class A shares, Amazon.com (AMZN), and Microsoft (MSFT) following Apple on the Dow as the top performers.
In economic news, US producer prices unexpectedly dropped on a monthly basis in June amid a steep decline in the cost of energy products, official data showed.
"We expect to see another weak reading for the July (producer prices index), even though global oil prices have moved higher in the past week," Oxford Economics said in a note.
On Tuesday, government data showed that US consumer prices decreased last month for the first time in more than six years amid lower energy costs.
"While still nominally elevated at a dangerously high level, the relative improvement in inflation in June emboldens the more dovish argument that price pressures are already cooling and could retreat further into year-end as the lingering impact from tariffs falls off and energy prices potentially normalize amid -- still tentative -- but ongoing, US-Iran peace negotiations," Stifel said in a note Wednesday.
The probability that the Fed will leave its benchmark lending rate unchanged later this month rose to nearly 90% Wednesday from 84% Tuesday, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
Inflation should ease in the next few quarters as energy prices are expected to trend back closer to where they were before the US-Iran war began, New York Fed President John Williams said.
Inflation is more likely to accelerate than cool given price pressures arising from an artificial intelligence boom and major supply shocks, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook said. Separately, New York Fed President John Williams said that inflation should ease in the next few quarters as energy prices retreat.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 1.2% at $80.29 a barrel in Wednesday late-afternoon trade, while Brent rose 1.3% to $85.80.
The US military conducted fresh strikes on Iran on Wednesday as tensions flare over the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important chokepoint for crude flows, the US Central Command said.
US Treasury yields were lower, with the two-year rate down 5.2 basis points at 4.14% and the 10-year rate falling 3.2 basis points to 4.55%.
In other company news, PayPal (PYPL) shares jumped 17%, the top gainer on the S&P 500, after Reuters reported that Stripe and Advent International have offered to acquire PayPal in a deal that would value the payments giant at more than $53 billion.
Pentair (PNR) shares slid 15%, the worst performer on the S&P 500. The water treatment company late Tuesday reported preliminary second-quarter results below market estimates and lowered its full-year outlook amid headwinds related to its pool segment.
Gold edged down 0.2% to $4,060.80 per troy ounce, while silver lost 1.6% to $58.17 per ounce.
