Finance
Wall Street rallies to one of its best days of the year after inflation report
U.S. stocks rallied Tuesday to one of their best days of the year after the first of several highly anticipated reports on the economy this week came in better than expected.
The S&P 500 jumped 1.7% for its third-best day of 2024 after the U.S. government reported inflation at the wholesale level slowed last month by more than economists expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 408 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq composite clambered 2.3% higher.
High inflation has been the scourge of shoppers and financial markets for years. It finally looks to be slowing enough to get the Federal Reserve to ease up on high interest rates, which the Fed has been keeping at economy-crunching levels in order to stifle inflation.
Treasury yields eased in the bond market following the inflation data, as traders remain convinced the Fed’s meeting next month will bring the first cut to interest rates since the COVID crash of 2020. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.84% from 3.91% late Monday.
All is not clear, though. On Wednesday, the U.S. government will deliver the latest monthly update on inflation that U.S. consumers are feeling, which could be less encouraging. And on Thursday will come a report showing how much U.S. shoppers are spending at retailers.
A growing worry on Wall Street is that the Fed may have kept interest rates too high for too long and undercut the U.S. economy by making it so expensive to borrow money. The economy is still growing, and many economists don’t expect a recession, but a sharp slowdown in U.S. hiring last month raised questions about its strength.
Such questions weigh because even cuts to interest rates haven’t been enough for stocks to rise significantly in the ensuing 18 months if a recession hits, according to Chris Haverland, global equity strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
Home Depot on Tuesday delivered stronger profit for the spring quarter than analysts expected, but it also said high interest rates and uncertainty about the economy are keeping some customers from spending on home improvement projects.
The retail giant lowered its full-year forecasts for an important measure of sales and for profit, even though it topped expectations for the second quarter. Its stock rose 1.2% after flipping earlier between modest gains and losses.
Elsewhere on Wall Street, Starbucks soared 24.5% after it convinced Brian Niccol to leave his job as CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill to take over the coffee chain. He will start as chairman and chief executive next month and will replace Laxman Narasimhan, who is stepping down immediately.
Chipotle, meanwhile, dropped 7.5%. Niccol has been its chief executive since 2018 and its chairman since 2020, and he helped its stock rise more than 240% for the five years through Monday. That tower’s over the S&P 500’s 96% return including dividends. Chipotle said its chief operating officer, Scott Boatwright, would be its interim CEO.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were modestly higher across much of Europe and Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was an outlier and jumped 3.4%.
Japan’s market has been viciously volatile recently, including the worst drop for the Nikkei 225 since the Black Monday crash of 1987. It’s been swinging since a hike to interest rates by the Bank of Japan forced many hedge funds and other investors to abandon a popular trade all at once, where they had borrowed Japanese yen at cheap rates to invest elsewhere. The forced selling that followed the surge in the Japanese yen’s value reverberated around the world.
But a promise last week by a top Bank of Japan official not to raise rates further as long as markets are “unstable” has helped calm the market.
Another worry that’s made Wall Street so shaky the last month is concerns that investors went overboard in their mania around artificial-intelligence technology and took the prices of Big Tech and AI-related stocks too high.
Nvidia, the company whose chips are powering much of the move into AI, has been at the center of the action. After soaring more than 170% through the year’s first six and a half months, it plunged more than 20% over the ensuing three weeks.
On Tuesday, Nvidia rose 6.5% and was the strongest force pushing upward on the S&P 500. All the other stocks in the small group known as the “Magnificent Seven” also climbed. They almost singlehandedly pushed the S&P 500 to dozens of all-time highs earlier this year, even as high interest rates weighed on much of the rest of the stock market.
Unlike much of the early part of this year, it wasn’t just the Magnificent Seven rising Tuesday. Wall Street’s rally was more widespread, and nearly 85% of the stocks in the S&P 500 rose. The smaller stocks in the Russell 2000 index also climbed 1.6%.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 90.04 points to 5,434.43. The Dow added 408.63 to 39,765.64, and the Nasdaq composite gained 407.00 to 17,187.61.
Regions Financial Corp. has completed its acquisition of Montgomery-based investment banking firm The Frazer Lanier Company, expanding its municipal finance and corporate investment banking services.
The Birmingham-based financial company announced Thursday that the acquisition has officially closed. Founded in 1976, Frazer Lanier provides investment banking services specializing in municipal and corporate securities and has served corporations, cities, counties and local boards throughout its history.
According to Regions, the acquisition is intended to strengthen the bank’s capital markets capabilities while enhancing services for public sector and institutional clients across its multi-state footprint.
Frazer Lanier has built its business by serving as an underwriter or placement agent for tax-exempt and taxable bonds, helping public entities and organizations access financing.
“Two of our top priorities at Regions Bank are strategically expanding our services and investing in top-tier banking talent,” John Turner, chairman, president and CEO of Regions Financial Corp., said in a news release. “By welcoming experienced bankers from Frazer Lanier to the Regions family, we are connecting Regions’ clients with even greater capabilities while advancing our long-term strategy for growth.”
As part of the acquisition, Frazer Lanier will be integrated into Regions Bank’s Capital Markets division within the company’s Corporate Banking group.
Brian Willman, head of Corporate Banking for Regions, said the two organizations share a similar approach to serving clients.
“Frazer Lanier has built trust by staying close to clients and helping them navigate important decisions,” Willman said. “Together, we can expand that model by bringing more ideas, more capabilities and more connectivity to clients across our markets.”
Regions said the acquisition will expand its municipal finance and investment banking capabilities, strengthen its services for cities, counties and other public entities, and provide clients with broader access to financing and capital markets solutions.
Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – A Mobile County grand jury has indicted the former finance director for the city of Semmes on ethics and theft charges.
Heather Renee Davis, who also previously served as city clerk for the city of Satsuma, faces a 12-count indictment. Ten of the counts are ethics violations.
Allegations
Prosecutors allege Davis improperly used her public positions in Semmes and Satsuma for personal gain, including misappropriating public money and resources.
Two counts accuse her of first-degree theft by deception involving amounts over $2,500. One count is tied to the city of Semmes and one to the city of Satsuma.
Arrest and bond
Jail records show Davis was arrested and later released after posting a $60,000 bond.
Copyright 2026 WALA. All rights reserved.
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* When it comes to campaign finance laws, both parties’ campaign committees have faced restrictions on how much money they could spend in coordination with candidates’ campaigns. Those limits are now effectively gone.
As MS NOW’s Jordan Rubin explained, “The Supreme Court’s GOP-appointed majority ruled for Republicans in their campaign finance challenge to restrictions on political parties spending on ads with input from the party’s candidate.”
A Punchbowl News report added that the ruling, written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, “handed Republicans a massive win” and is likely to “usher in the biggest change to campaign finance law since the Citizens United decision.”
The same report went on to note that Tuesday’s high court ruling “allows for unrestricted coordination between candidates and party committees. That means committees, like the NRSC or the DCCC, can run unlimited TV ads with allied candidates. More importantly, they can also buy those ads at the much cheaper rate offered to candidates. … Tuesday’s SCOTUS ruling will also eradicate the need for independent expenditure arms at party committees.”
Republicans already enjoyed a significant financial advantage over Democrats. The Republican-appointed justices just made it easier for the GOP to capitalize on that advantage.
* In Colorado’s closely watched Democratic primaries, incumbent Sen. John Hickenlooper fended off a challenge from the left, but some of his colleagues weren’t as fortune: Democratic socialist Melat Kiros ended long-serving Rep. Diana DeGette’s career in Denver’s congressional district, while state Attorney General Phil Weiser scored a major upset by defeating incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet in a gubernatorial primary.
* In the race for North Carolina’s open Senate seat, former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper leads former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley in the latest New York Times/Siena poll, 50% to 43%, pointing to a possible pickup opportunity for Democrats.
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