Stocks moved higher Wednesday, as tame inflation figures and oil prices at a three-month low helped energize investors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 132.57, or 1.3 percent, to close at 10,464.45. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 11.76, or 1 percent, at 1,185.56. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 26.50, or 1.3 percent, to 2,030.65.
The Labor Department reported that the consumer price index rose 0.5 percent in April, led by higher energy and food prices. Without those two volatile price categories, “core” inflation was flat in April, a big improvement from March, when core inflation shot up by 0.4 percent, the largest advance in 2 1/2 years.
And crude for June delivery fell $1.72, or 3.5 percent, to settle at $47.25 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It had dropped to an intraday low of $47.16, its lowest price since Feb. 16.
Among local companies, shares of L.A.-based metal services company Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. rose 9.5 percent to close at $40.11 after Nucor Corp. Chief Executive Officer Daniel DiMicco said U.S. steel prices, which have been down about 20 percent since October, will rebound “in the next month or two” as distributors work off excess inventory. Also, Apollo Management LP’s agreement to buy steel and aluminum processor Metals USA Inc. helped boost shares of a number of steel companies.
L.A.-based homebuilder KB Home gained 6.6 percent to $63.02 after Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services changed the outlook for Centex Corp., the fourth-largest U.S. residential construction company, to “positive” from “stable,” causing other homebuilders’ shares to rise as well.
And Hilton Hotels Corp. edged up 3.3 percent to $22.92 after the Beverly Hills hotelier announced it had bought 112 acres of undeveloped land on Hawaii’s Big Island from Waikoloa Development Co. for $65 million. Details of the development plans for the land are still being determined. Also, Smith Travel Research reported that U.S. hotels’ revenue per available room rose 6.4 percent in the week ended May 14 from the same
period a year earlier.
