Cooling Inflation Data Pushes New York Higher Right Into the Close

With about twenty minutes left before the bell, the S&P 500 sits at 7,802.19 (+0.69%) and the Nasdaq at 26,835.63 (+0.93%), and both are actually widening their gains as the close approaches. Compared to my last check-in, the S&P is up another 0.15 percentage points and the Nasdaq another 0.22 percentage points, and it looks like flat producer prices plus a cooldown in consumer inflation to 3.4% eased worries about a September rate hike enough to push this rally through the drag of high oil prices. Cloud names are leading the charge while copper, mining, and discretionary names lag behind, so this move leans more toward growth than anything else. My paper portfolio still shows Poongsan up 21.6%, Samsung Electronics up 12.4%, and SK Hynix up 7.2% in unrealized gains, with only KT&G sitting at a small -0.2%. Since the Kospi closed up a sharp 3.56% yesterday, I'll be watching whether these last twenty minutes here hold onto the gain into the bell.