Wall Street climbs again as a worldwide rally comes back around

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are drifting around their record levels on Wednesday after a rally spurred by hopes for lower U.S. interest rates wrapped around the world.

The S&P 500 rose 0.1%, coming off its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 339 points, or 0.8%, as of 12:34 p.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was mostly unchanged after setting its own record the day before.

Treasury yields eased in the bond market as expectations reached a virtual consensus that the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rates for the first time this year at its next meeting in September. Lower rates can boost investment prices and the economy by making it cheaper for U.S. households and businesses to borrow to buy houses, cars or equipment, though they risk worsening inflation.

Stock indexes jumped in Asia in their first trading after Tuesday's better-than-expected report on U.S. inflation triggered a jump in bets that a cut to interest rates is coming. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng leaped 2.6%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied 1.3% and South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.1%.

Indexes also rose in Europe, though the moves were more modest after they already had the chance to trade on the U.S. inflation data the afternoon before. Germany’s DAX returned 0.7%, and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.7%.

On Wall Street, the hopes for lower interest rates are helping to drown out criticism that the U.S. stock market has grown too expensive after its big leap since hitting a low in April.

One way companies can make their stock prices look less expensive is to deliver strong growth in profits, and Brinker International became the latest to report stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company behind the Chili’s brand said it saw more customers coming to its restaurants, and it’s also making more profit off each $1 in sales.

“Chili’s is officially back, baby back!” said CEO Kevin Hochman.