Inflation News Boosts Stocks

Stocks were up today on consumer price data showing lower-than expected inflation and on declining oil prices. A Labor Department report showed the CPI rose only 0.2% in April, reports the Wall Street Journal. The Dow ended up 65.71 to 12,897.89, the Nasdaq rose 1.58 to 2,496.70, and the S&P rose 5.56 to 1,408.6.

Despite a modest decline in oil futures, however, many sectors are declining because of the long run of high fuel prices, analysts say. "Exxon Mobil is stealing from Starbucks at this point. People are willing to do without that extra cup of coffee to fill up their cars," says a managing director at Thomson Reuters. Yahoo stocks also kept rising thanks to speculation of a proxy war by financier Carl Icahn. (More stock market stories.)