S&P 500, Nasdaq close at highest levels since April 2022, buoyed by cooler-than-expected inflation report: Live updates

U.S. stocks ended Wednesday's trading session in the green.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 86.01 points, or 0.25%.

The S&P 500 rose 0.74%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.15%, pushing the two indices to their highest levels since April 2022.

— Hakyung Kim

Stocks rode a wave of optimism after June's inflation report, lifting three key indexes to their highest levels in more than a year.

The S&P 500 notched a 52-week high, as did the Nasdaq Composite and the Dow Jones Transportation Average on Wednesday. These were the highest levels for the three averages since April 2022.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are all on pace for three-day win streaks.

-Darla Mercado, Chris Hayes

The percentage of bullish financial newsletter editors dipped to 51.4% in the latest Investors Intelligence weekly survey, down from 54.9% a week ago — itself the highest reading since November, 2021's 57.2%.

"The bull count holds near the 55% initial caution level, which says to prepare a more defensive strategy," Investors Intelligence said.

The percentage of bears fell again, to 18.1% – the lowest since early January, 2022, right as stocks climbed to all-time highs — from 18.3% last week. The number in the correction camp, calling for a short-term pullback, rose to 30.5% from 26.8%.

As a result, the so-called "bull-bear spread" narrowed to 33.3 points from 36.6 points last week — which was the widest positive reading November, 2021.

— Scott Schnipper

The upcoming special rebalance for the Nasdaq 100 will help avoid a situation where issuers with individual weights above 4.5% account for more than 48% of the total index, as detailed in Nasdaq's methodology, a Nasdaq spokesperson clarified to CNBC.

That limit is designed so that index funds tracking the Nasdaq 100 do not run afoul of regulatory rules governing the diversification of registered investment companies.

Read more about the rebalance here.

— Jesse Pound

The odds that the Federal Reserve will raise rates again, after its next meeting on July 26, have faded on the back of Wednesday's weaker-than-expected consumer price report for June.

According to the CME FedWatch tool, interest rate traders still see a 95% certainty that the central bank lifts its benchmark fed funds rates a quarter point, to 5.25%-5.50%, on July 26. But after that, things get dicey.

The chance that the Fed will go another quarter point at its September meeting (it skips August), has fallen to 13.3%, down from 22.3% on Tuesday and 18.1% a week ago. Odds that fed funds will stand a half point higher by the end of the Fed's Nov. 1 meeting are now 26.5% compared with 36.2% yesterday and 31.6% one week ago.

By the time of the Fed's last policy meeting of the year, on Dec. 13, odds that rates will be a half point higher than today's 5.00%-5.25%, have slumped to 20.8% now from 32.4% on Tuesday and 28% one week back.

Meanwhile, the odds that the Fed will have reversed this month's rate increase by yearend have risen to 14.9% from 10.2% yesterday and 12.6% last week.

— Scott Schnipper

The Ark Genomic Revolution ETF (ARKG) is up more than 4% in afternoon trading, on track for its fourth-straight positive session and its highest close since September.

ARKG is one of several funds managed by Cathie Wood, whose Ark Invest firm became synonymous with growth investing during the 2021 market boom.

The fund's top holdings include Exact Sciences, Schrodinger Inc., and Pacific Biosciences of California.

— Jesse Pound

Citi opened a positive catalyst watch on General Motors ahead of its earnings report expected later in the month.

Though consensus estimates have risen, there's still upside potential from strong pricing, according to analyst Itay Michaeli. And he said the stock could move higher if the company beats those heightened expectations and then raising future guidance.

He said investors should also be cautious when interpreting any conservative language given around the outlook for the second half of the year.

Shares were up more than 1% in Wednesday's session. The stock is up more than 20% so far in 2023, underperforming Ford and Stellantis.

— Alex Harring

Evercore ISI hiked its price target on Rivian to $30 from $25 per share, noting the company's R1S vehicle is the "is the EV Everyone Wants." The new target implies upside of 20% from Tuesday's close.

The firm also said Rivian can top second-quarter expectations.

"Since launching on RIVN back in November, the stock has tumbled over 50% on items we previewed such as capital funding needs, cash burn, gross margins, and stale '25 consensus needing a reset," Evercore said. "We believe Q1 was a big turning point for the growing OEM as they improved gross margin well above our expectations to -78% despite no volume ramp in the quarter (voluntary shut down) and Q2's ~13k deliveries (beat vs ~11k) showed some momentum in manufacturing."

"We remain confident in Rivian's demand as the R1S is the EV that everyone in the US should want," the firm said. To be sure, Evercore ISI has an in line rating on the EV maker.

— Fred Imbert, Michael Bloom

Nvidia announced a $50 million investment deal with Recursion Pharmaceuticals on Wednesday. The two companies said the investment would help "accelerate groundbreaking foundation models in AI-enabled drug discovery." The deal was executed as a private investment in public equity (PIPE).

"With our powerful dataset and NVIDIA's accelerated computing capabilities, we intend to create groundbreaking foundation models in biology and chemistry at a scale unlike anything that has ever been released in the biological space," said Chris Gibson, CEO of Recursion.

Shares of Recursion soared more than 83% Wednesday afternoon. Nvidia's shares gained 3.2% upon the news.

— Hakyung Kim

Check out the companies making the biggest moves during Wednesday's trading session:

Domino's Pizza — The stock popped nearly 11% after Domino's announced U.S. consumers can now order its products through Uber's Uber Eats and Postmates apps. The agreement has the potential to add incremental orders from Uber Eats to 70% of Domino's stores, the company said.

DraftKings — Shares of the sports betting app rallied about 5% following an upgrade to buy by analysts at Bank of America. The Wall Street firm cited an "inflection point" in margins and profitability.

Roku — Shares of the streaming provider gained 1%. The company said Tuesday it's teaming up with Shopify to allow viewers to purchase straight from Roku TV. Views will be able to simply press a button on their Roku remote to place an order upon seeing an ad for a Shopify merchant, the company said.

The full list can be found here.

— Hakyung Kim

Deutsche Bank is placing its bets on Charles Schwab ahead of second-quarter earnings, viewing it as one of the most oversold names within its subsector.

"We see SCHW in the online brokers as next best positioned, with cash sorting continuing to ease and mgmt. suggesting [Federal Home Loan Banks] paydown could start sooner if balance sheet client deposit levels stabilize," wrote analyst Brian Bedell. "This creates greater visibility for EPS to begin a rebound in 3Q, which should drive at least mild positive revisions to Consensus estimates for 3Q23 and beyond."

Shares are down 30% since the start of 2023 after recent bank closures rattled the broader sector. The firm's $70 price target implies nearly 22% upside from Tuesday's close.

— Samantha Subin

The recent rally for Redfin has gone too far, according to D.A. Davidson.

Analyst Tom White downgraded the real estate company to underperform from neutral, and shares of Redfin were down nearly 5% in midday trading.

"Over the past few quarters, RDFN has made progress towards its goal of achieving sustainable profitability (largely via cost cuts in its core brokerage and reorienting around higher-margin revenue streams), but we believe this early progress is now fully reflected in RDFN's current valuation," White said in a note to clients.

The stock has jumped more than 260% so far this year, including a roughly 24% surge on Tuesday. D.A. Davidson's price target is $10 per share, or more than 30% below Tuesday's closing price.

— Jesse Pound

The energy sector jumped 4% week to date as of Wednesday afternoon, making it the best-performing sector for the week and month. However, energy stocks are still the second-worst performing sector year-to-date, with the Energy Sector Select Fund still down 4.8% in 2023.

The recent rally "is less about fundamentals, [and] more about neutralizing a lot of the bearish positioning over the last two months by commodity-trading advisors and speculators," Joe Terranova, senior managing director for Virtus Investment Partners, told CNBC's "Halftime Report" on Wednesday.

"We're seeing a little bit of an unwind — we'll see how far prices take that momentum and possibly extend towards $80. But I don't see anything fundamentally in the near term. That's representative of being a catalyst," Terranova said.

— Hakyung Kim

The consumer price index showing lower inflation growth than analysts anticipated in June can bolster the hopes of investors anticipating the market could move higher, according to Rhys Williams, chief strategist at Spouting Rock Asset Management. That's because it can signal to the Federal Reserve that past interest rate hikes are cooling the economy enough

"The bulls get their wish," he said in reaction to the June reading.

His focus now? If the Fed can be content with an annual inflation rate between 2% and 3%. While he said the central bank will likely raise rates at its July meeting, the question is now if the Fed will continue to raise rates after, which could in turn mean "the soft landing turns into something harder."

"Ultimately, given a chronic shortage of labor, lack of immigrants and a lot of Inflation Reduction Act money to stimulate new factories and Capex projects, we are skeptical that inflation can really go back to 2%," Williams said. "Ultimately, the Federal Reserve will have to decide whether an inflation rate under 3% is good enough."

"But for today, the bulls have the wind at their back, and certainly, the Fed could take the position that just keeping rates at current levels will push inflation lower," he added. "The Fed appears to be winning."

— Alex Harring

A recent slew of economic data, including Wednesday's cooler-than-expected inflation numbers, gives "support [that] the Federal Reserve is more likely toward the end of its rate hike cycle," said AXS Investment's CEO Greg Bassuk.

"We do still anticipate at least one more Fed rate hike, but if we continue to see data pointing to prices being under control, that could definitely put the Fed on a different trajectory," said Bassuk.

Bassuk added that upcoming earnings results and economic data in the coming weeks could also help in bringing the Fed "to a more dovish sentiment." The CEO is also positive on the second-quarter earnings season.

"We're cautiously optimistic that we'll see some relatively good earnings in the most recent quarter. And frankly, we're constructive on the likelihood we're going to see it across sectors," said Bassuk.

— Hakyung Kim

Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, said the stock market's ideal outcome from the Federal Reserve's rate-hiking campaign is playing out — based on Wednesday's inflation report.

The consumer price index rose less than expected in June, sparking a broad rally on Wall Street.

"The final outcome remains to be seen, but at least where we sit today, it's hard to argue with the notion that we're getting this dream scenario of monetary policy inducing lower inflation ... without a recession," Sosnick told CNBC. "We'll see if the other economic numbers ratify this, but at least as of now, it's hard to dissuade the market from being enthusiastic."

The Dow was up more than 250 points in late-morning trading. The S&P 500 climbed about 1%, and the Nasdaq climbed 1.2%.

— Fred Imbert

Sports betting stock DraftKings popped more than 7% after Bank of America upgraded shares to a buy rating.

"While DKNG has outperformed in 2023, we think market share gains can drive both Q2 '23 and near-term top line revisions (though likely anticipated) while cost leverage will likely drive bigger revisions in Adj. EBITDA and margins than anticipated," wrote analyst Shaun Kelley, citing improving margins and profitability.

The stock's surged nearly 172% this year.

Read more on the call here.

— Samantha Subin

The latest inflation report is more good news for Wall Street bulls, according to UBS Financial Services director of floor operations Art Cashin.

"With the economy looking like it's not moving toward a recession, you may get some very vey high pressure for big jumps," Cashin told CNBC's Squawk on the Street. "For today, the biggest risk to the bulls is that they run out of champagne."

Consumer prices increased 0.2% in June and are up 3% year-over-year.

— Brian Evans

Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov upgraded SunPower to strong buy form outperform, saying investors should buy the recent weakness. The stock is down more than 45% this year.

However, Molchanov's own price target of $21 is more than 120% above from where shares closed Tuesday. The stock popped 9% Wednesday morning.

— Sarah Min

JPMorgan and Visa were the two Dow components reaching fresh highs Wednesday. They were among the 56 names in the S&P 500 hitting new 52-week highs.

Here are some of the other names.

• JPMorgan trading at levels not seen since February 2022
• MasterCard trading at levels not seen since April 2021
• S&P Global trading at levels not seen since April 2022
• Visa trading at levels not seen since August 2021
• American Airlines Group trading at levels not seen since May 2022
• Alaska Air Group trading at levels not seen since April 2022
• A.O. Smith trading at levels not seen since February 2022

In contrast, Elevance Health was the only name falling to a new 52-week low, trading at levels not seen since December 2021.

— Sarah Min, Chris Hayes

Bank of America said this automaker can "weather the storm" as it, along with other European Union automakers, navigate the electric vehicle transition to meet the region's Fit for 55 climate requirements. There's also a possible auto worker strike in September.

Even so, this firm has several advantages, including significant exposure to North America — which benefits from the Inflation Reduction Act — as well as low exposure to China.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read about the stock here.

— Sarah Min

UBS analyst John Hodulik hiked his price target on Netflix ahead of its second-quarter results next week, saying he expects accelerating growth in the second half.

"We are raising estimates following positive data on paid sharing. Checks on engagement, downloads & search interest were all constructive for the newly launched paid sharing markets," Hodulik wrote on Tuesday. "Along with better FX, we expect 2Q to beat mgmt's guide (UBSe 5% rev/4% OI growth; prior 4%/2%) and still expect accelerating 2H growth."

Netflix shares are higher by 0.3% in the premarket.

— Sarah Min

Shares of Domino's Pizza jumped 10.1% Wednesday morning after the company announced it had reached an agreement with Uber.

The deal will allow customers to order Domino's menu items through Uber Eats and Postmates in the U.S., U.K. and Canada. The partnership is set to begin in four markets in the U.S. this fall, before expanding nationwide by the end of 2023.

— Hakyung Kim

Stocks rallied in early trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 219 points higher, or 0.6%. The S&P 500 gained 0.9%, hitting its highest level since April 2022, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.2%.

— Fred Imbert

The price of bitcoin got a 1% boost after the consumer price index showed June U.S. inflation fell to its lowest annual rate in more than two years in. Bitcoin is off its highs but climbed as high as about $30,900 after the data was released, according to Coin Metrics.

"The market likes a lower CPI print and is behaving as if the this is a trend downward, rather a reversion to the mean," said Valkyrie Investments' chief investment officer Steve McClurg. "Risk assets like bitcoin likely rally into the belief that the Fed will tighten little from here."

"Though the velocity of CPI has come down, CPI is still high and we expect higher CPI through the end of the year due to oil supply and demand issues," he added.

Bitcoin traded in line with stocks for nearly all of 2022 as the Fed increased interest rates. As of late its correlation with stocks is at its lowest levels since 2021.

— Tanaya Macheel

The dollar index fell Wednesday after the consumer price index's increase came in lighter than expected and at its lowest level since March 2021.

The dollar hit a session low of 101.049. That's the lowest level since May 8, when the index hit a low of 101.041. The dollar index measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies.

— Gina Francolla, Michelle Fox

The consumer price index rose 0.2% in June and 3% from a year ago, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Economists polled by Dow Jones had expected a monthly increase of 0.3% and 3.1% on an annualized basis.

 Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, also increased less than anticipated.

— Samantha Subin

Check out some of the companies making headlines in premarket trading.

Beyond Meat — The plant based meat alternative added 2% on Wednesday morning. The company said Tuesday that its steak product would expand to be now be sold at roughly 14,000 stores across the U.S., including Whole Foods and Wegmans. Beyond Meat shares popped 4% in the previous session.

SunPower -- The solar power company soared nearly 6% in premarket trading after an upgrade from Raymond James, which said the stock's recent weakness is "excessive."

Carvana — The car retailer climbed roughly 2% after an upgrade from JMP to outperform Wednesday morning, with analyst Nicholas Jones noting the company could be on the cusp of a return to growth thanks to "durable positive" EBITDA.

Read the full list here.

— Brian Evans

It's time to step to the sidelines on Coinbase after its recent rally, according to Atlantic Equities.

Analyst Simon Clinch downgraded Coinbase to neutral, but raised his price target, following the crypto exchange operator's run-up.

"While the tenets of our recent upgrade remain in place, the risk/ reward looks less attractive at this level given continued regulatory challenges ahead and the surprisingly weak volume backdrop," Clinch wrote on Wednesday. "We are raising our target price to $80, reflecting the impact of higher crypto prices, but downgrading the shares to Neutral given the limited upside."

To read more about his downgrade, click here.

— Sarah Min

The highly anticipated consumer price index report is slated for release at 8:30 a.m. ET, and JPMorgan thinks a dovish reading is more likely than a hawkish one, "with the upside risk that we see a strong enough fall in inflation to end the Fed's hiking cycle."

"While the bull case does not require a pause/skip at the July Fed meeting, it would certainly magnify the upside potential," the traders said in a note. "[We] think this print pushes the market closer to Goldilocks where we have economic growth, earnings growth, and normalized inflation."

— Fred Imbert, Michael Bloom

U.S. Treasury yields fell on Wednesday as investors awaited consumer price index data, which could influence the path for Federal Reserve interest rate policy, and remarks from central bank officials.

At 4:35 a.m. ET, the 10-year Treasury yield was trading at 3.9463% after falling by over three basis points. The 2-year Treasury was last down by more than three basis points to 4.8644%.

— Sophie Kiderlin

European shares were mostly higher at Wednesday's open.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.3% in early trade, with tech stocks adding 1% to lead gains as most sectors and major bourses nudged into positive territory. Travel and leisure stocks slipped 0.6%.

The Bank of England on Wednesday said British banks are strong enough to support households and businesses through the squeeze of higher borrowing costs and the rising cost of living.

In its Financial Stability Report, the central bank noted that U.K. households and businesses are in a safer position than they were before the financial crisis, with a lower proportion of household income spent on mortgage payments and a lower proportion of business spend used to service debt.

"Higher interest payments on loans mean some households and businesses may not be able to make their payments. This increases the risks that banks may face some losses," the Bank said.

"However, U.K. banks are resilient and they are strong enough to continue supporting households and businesses through a period of higher interest rates. In line with our rules, they have large capital buffers to absorb losses."

Though banks have not yet seen a rise in borrowers being unable to meet loan payments, the Bank said that its interest rate hikes would feed through into the economy gradually. As such, the full impact is yet to be felt by households and businesses.

— Elliot Smith

New Zealand's central bank has held its benchmark interest rate at 5.5%, marking the first pause for the Reserve Bank of New Zealand since October 2021.

The RBNZ said the current level of interest rates are "constraining spending and inflation pressure as anticipated and required."

However, the central bank said interest rates still need to "remain at a restrictive level for the foreseeable future," to ensure that consumer inflation returns to its target range of 1-3%.

— Lim Hui Jie

Japan's corporate goods price index rose at a slower pace of 4.1% year-on-year in June, the sixth straight month that growth has slowed.

Also known as the wholesale inflation gauge, the 4.1% figure is lower than May's revised print of 5.2%, and also the slowest inflation rate recorded since April 2021.

The corporate goods price index measures the price companies charge each other for their goods and services.

— Lim Hui Jie

South Korea's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate inched up slightly to 2.6% in June, after hitting a joint-record low figure of 2.5% in May.

Compared to the same period a year ago, unemployment fell by 0.4 percentage points and stood at 763,000 people in June

Data from the country's statistics department showed that South Korea's employment to population ratio stood at 63.5% in June, up 0.6% percentage points year-on-year.

— Lim Hui Jie

The Dow Jones Transportation Average, a 20-stock index that includes railways and airlines, leapt to a new 52-week high dating back to April 1, 2022. Dow Transports are up 19% in 2023, far outpacing the Dow Jones Industrial Average's roughly 3.4% gain.

Big winners in the index include Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, each of which is up nearly 50% in 2023.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite are also near their 52-week highs, which they freshly notched in June. Both indexes are within 1% of those levels.

­— Darla Mercado, Gina Francolla

Perfect timing.

Next Tuesday's formal spinoff of the Atlanta Braves from John Malone's Liberty Media comes one week from tonight's Major League Baseball All-Star Game, and as the Braves have posted an 0.844 winning percentage (27-5) since June 3, and the best record in MLB overall this season (60-29 or 0.674), according to Gordon Haskett Research's Don Bilson.

"Malone & Company hatched this plan back in November as part of a larger restructuring. And come next Tuesday, investors will no longer have to get their exposure to the Braves through a tracking stock. Besides the Braves, which Forbes values as $2.6bn, the stock will offer some real estate exposure as the Braves own their stadium and a mixed-use development that is adjacent to the stadium," Bilson wrote to clients Tuesday.

Bilson couldn't help but note that the Braves are 18.5 games ahead of the New York Mets, owned by Point72's Steven Cohen, while its tracking stock has soared 55% over the past year, almost twice the return on James Dolan's Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. Class A stock. Dolan owns the New York Knicks and New York Rangers.

— Scott Schnipper, with reporting by CNBC's Michael Bloom

Coty, the beauty and fragrance company that bought a minority stake of Kim Kardashian's SKKN BY KIM three years ago from the celebrity, popped more than 3% in extended trading on Tuesday. The move comes after The Wall Street Journal reported that Kardashian is in talks to buy back the stake.

Kardashian, who is known for reality shows "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" and "The Kardashians," sold her 20% share to Coty when SKKN was valued at $1 billion. The Journal, who cited people familiar with the matter, said the sale price has yet to be ironed out and there was the potential for the deal to still fall through

Coty has surged more than 50% so far in 2023, more than erasing losses from 2022's 18.5% slide.

Disclosure: Reality TV series "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" aired on E!, which has the same parent company as CNBC.

— Alex Harring

Stok futures saw muted moves shortly after 6 p.m. ET.

Dow and S&P 500 futures slid just 0.1%, wile Nasdaq 100 futures were near flat.

— Alex Harring