**Three major stock indexes opened high and continued to rise, with technology stocks performing well;

**Medium to long-term US Treasury yields fell back, with the 10-year US Treasury hitting a five-week low;

**Institutions raised target prices, and Nvidia approached $950.

On Wednesday, US stocks opened high and continued to rise, as the consumer inflation increase was lower than expected, boosting investors' hopes for a Fed rate cut. By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 349.89 points, or 0.88%, to 39,908.00 points, the Nasdaq Composite rose by 1.40% to 16,742.39 points, and the S&P 500 Index rose by 1.17% to 5,308.15 points, with all three major indexes hitting new historical closing highs.

Market Overview

The US Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 0.3% month-on-month in April and by 3.4% year-on-year, in line with expectations. Core CPI (excluding the more volatile food and energy prices) rose by 3.6% year-on-year, marking a new low in nearly three years.

Another report released that day showed that due to the rise in gasoline prices and a decrease in spending on other goods, US retail sales unexpectedly remained flat in April, indicating that consumer spending is losing momentum.

Both reports have boosted expectations for a Fed rate cut in the near term. Medium to long-term US Treasury yields fell back, with the closely rate-expectation-linked 2-year Treasury note falling by 9.3 basis points to 4.73%, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury note falling by 10.1 basis points to 4.34%, hitting a five-week low. According to the FedWatch Tool of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the possibility of a rate cut at the Fed's September meeting has once again returned to over 50%.

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Seema Shah, Chief Global Strategist at Principal Asset Management, said: "For the first time since the beginning of the year, inflation has unexpectedly moved downward, which will alleviate concerns that inflation is starting to trend upwards again. Considering this will bring the Fed's rate cut plans for 2024 back to the table, it will inevitably be welcomed by the market."

Brian Nick, Senior Investment Strategist at Macro Institute, believes the market got what they wanted. "These data lay the groundwork for the Fed to start cutting rates this year. Companies like Nvidia and many high-growth firms will benefit from the decline in interest rates," he added.In individual stock news, Nvidia rose by 3.6%, approaching the $950 mark. KeyBanc has set a target price for Nvidia at $1,200. Goldman Sachs has given a 12-month target price of $1,100, optimistic about the continued strong demand for AI servers and supply improvements.

Star tech stocks generally performed well, with Meta up 2.0%, and Google, Apple, and Microsoft all rising by more than 1%, while Amazon fell by 0.6%.

Retail investor favorites took a hit, with GameStop closing down 18.9%, ending a significant rise for the week. Other meme stocks also plummeted, with AMC falling 20% and Koss down 19.2%.

Walmart fell by 0.1%, marking three consecutive days of decline, as investors await the earnings report on Thursday, looking for clues about changes in consumer shopping habits and economic prospects.

Disney fell by 2.4%, as CEO Bob Iger indicated plans to reduce marketing expenses for its Disney+ streaming service in an effort to become profitable in that business.

New York Community Bank fell by 5.7%, as the bank is set to sell approximately $5 billion in warehouse loans to JPMorgan Chase to alleviate funding pressure.

International oil prices stabilized and rebounded, with the EIA reporting a draw of 2.5 million barrels of crude oil in the United States last week. The near-month WTI crude oil contract rose by 0.78%, trading at $78.63 per barrel, while the near-month Brent crude oil contract increased by 0.45%, at $82.75 per barrel.

Expectations of interest rate cuts pushed international gold prices to a three-month high. The COMEX gold futures for delivery in May on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose by 1.50%, to $2,388.70 per ounce.