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Wall St closed slightly higher on Thursday following the release of key inflation data that came in line with consensus expectations of a slight month-on-month growth by 0.2% while the annual inflation rate rose to 3.2% from 3% in June. While this reading was a slight uptick in inflation, it was expected and the annual rate came in under expectations of 3.3%, indicating inflation in the region remains sticky, but not out of control. On an earnings front, Disney led the Dow Jones higher after releasing third quarter results including a earnings per share of $1.03 which beat expectations and the media giant announced an upcoming price hike for ad-free Disney+ subscriptions.
The Dow Jones added 0.15%, the S&P 500 edged slightly higher by .03% and the tech heavy Nasdaq ended the day up 0.12%.
Over in Europe, markets closed higher on Thursday as positive earnings results were released in the region and investors reacted to US inflation data reading below expectations. The Stoxx 600 finished the day up 0.8% following a 2.2% growth in household goods stocks. The German Dax ended the day up 0.91%, the FTSE 100 closed 0.41% higher and the French CAC rose 1.52% by market close.
Locally yesterday, the Australian market closed 0.26% higher driven by strong gains for the energy and consumer discretionary sectors which rose 2.27% and 0.60% respectively. The strong gains were slightly dampened by a 1.79% drop in the info-tech sector.
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