US Stock Market Today: S&P 500 Hits Record High, Nasdaq Up 80 Points On Wall Street's Sept Rate Cut Hopes

US Stock Market Today: The benchmark S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit record highs on Wednesday, Aug. 13, underpinned by gains in megacap companies as investors were increasingly confident that the US Federal Reserve could restart its monetary policy easing cycle next month.

Signs that US tariffs on imports have not fully filtered into the headline consumer prices came as a relief for investors this week as they look for more insights on the impact trade uncertainty has had on the economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average last rose 379.32 points, or 0.86%, to 44,839.44, the S&P 500 gained 28.17 points, or 0.44%, to 6,474.20 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 84.32 points, or 0.39%, to 21,766.23.

The blue-chip Dow was less than 1% away from an all-time high and the Russell 2000 index which tracks rate-sensitive small-cap companies, added 0.8% to hit a six-month high. The CBOE volatility index popularly referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, dropped to 14.46 - its lowest since January.

Despite data showing underlying price pressures were on the rise, markets also factored in recent weakness in the job market and a shake-up at the Federal Reserve as they leaned in favor of a potential dovish move by the central bank in September.

Traders are now fully pricing in a 25 basis points interest rate cut by the central bank, according to the CME's FedWatch Tool, up from 89.2% last week. The central bank last lowered borrowing costs in December.

Earnings are also in focus. CoreWeave which is backed by Nvidia, slumped 12% after the AI data center operator reported a bigger-than-expected quarterly net loss. Amazon and Tesla were up over 1.5% each.

Eyes are also on developments surrounding the China revenue-sharing deal the US government signed with chipmakers like Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices which the White House said could be expanded to others in the sector. Nvidia was flat, while Advanced Micro Devices rose 5.8%.

Paramount Skydance shares jumped 19% and is up over 24% this week. As per Reuters, the company won exclusive broadcasting rights to the Ultimate Fighting Championship for seven years earlier this week.

Wall Street's main indexes opened higher with the benchmark S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hitting record highs, driven by increased Wall Street's rate cuts bets for September after the latest US inflation data of July.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 112.9 points, or 0.25%, at the open to 44571.53. At opening bell, S&P 500 rose 16.9 points, or 0.26%, to hit 6462.67​, while the Nasdaq rose 82.6 points, or 0.38%, to 21764.548.