Wall Street today: S&P 500 rises 1% on July’s retail sales data; Tesla up 4%

Wall Street's major indexes climbed roughly 1% following July's retail sales data, which suggested strong consumer spending and eased concerns about a possible imminent recession in the world's largest economy, on Thursday.

At 9:35 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 503.66 points, or 1.26 per cent, reaching 40,512.05. The S&P 500 increased by 56.25 points, or 1.03 per cent, to 5,511.46, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 206.07 points, or 1.20 per cent, bringing it to 17,398.67.

Retail sales rose by 1.0 per cent last month, following a downward revision to a 0.2 per cent decline in June. This growth has alleviated concerns about a severe economic slowdown, which were heightened by last week's spike in the unemployment rate.

The yields on the two-year and 10-year Treasury notes increased following the data release, with traders now placing a 75 per cent probability on a 25 basis point rate cut by the Federal Reserve, up from 65 per cent prior to the data.

Investors have closely monitored this week's data releases, the final economic indicators before Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's highly anticipated speech at Jackson Hole next week.

All major megacap and growth stocks saw gains, with Tesla leading the way, climbing 4.1 per cent.

Nine out of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were trading higher, with consumer discretionary and materials leading the gains.

Bullion

Gold prices trimmed their earlier gains on Thursday as the dollar and Treasury yields increased following stronger-than-anticipated U.S. economic data, which could impact the magnitude of potential interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

As of 10:18 a.m. EDT (1418 GMT), spot gold remained unchanged at $2,445.67 per ounce, after having climbed as much as 0.9% earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures edged up by 0.2% to $2,484.10.

Crude Oil

Oil prices fell by 1% on Wednesday following an unexpected increase in U.S. crude inventories and a slight easing of concerns about a potential broader conflict in the Middle East that could disrupt supplies from a key oil-producing region.

Brent crude futures dropped by 93 cents, or 1.15%, closing at $79.76 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures declined by $1.37, or 1.8%, settling at $76.98 per barrel.