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Producer prices increase more than expected in April

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Meme stocks extend gains from Monday

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Alibaba falls after Q4 profit drop

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Indexes up: Dow 0.18%, S&P 0.11%, Nasdaq 0.18%

(Updated at 09:44 a.m. ET/ 1344 GMT)

By Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Shristi Achar A

May 14 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes inched

higher on Tuesday as investors assessed stronger-than-expected

producer prices data and awaited a speech by Federal Reserve

Chair Jerome Powell for clues on the interest-rate trajectory in

the world's biggest economy.

U.S. producer prices increased more than expected in April

amid strong gains in the costs of services and goods, leading

traders to pare back bets of a first rate cut in September.

"Sticky inflation looked downright stuck this morning after

a much hotter-than-expected inflation reading. But with last

month's numbers revised lower, this report may not have been as

much of an upside shock as it first appeared to be," said Chris

Larkin, managing director of trading and investing at E*TRADE

from Morgan Stanley.

Focus will now be on Wednesday's consumer price figures to

help assess whether the upside surprises in the first quarter

were a blip or a worrying trend.

Fed Chair Powell is due to speak at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Sticky inflation and persistent labor market strength have

prompted financial markets and most economists to push back

expectations for an initial Fed interest rate cut to September,

from March seen at the start of the year.

Still, stocks have rallied so far this year, with all three

major U.S. indexes hovering near fresh record highs thanks to

better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter and hopes

that the Fed will cut rates sometime this year.

At 09:44 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 71.74 points, or 0.18%, to 39,503.25, the S&P 500

gained 5.51 points, or 0.11%, to 5,226.93 and the Nasdaq

Composite gained 29.78 points, or 0.18%, to 16,417.33.

U.S.-listed shares of Alibaba shed 6% in early

trading after reporting a 86% drop in fourth-quarter profit.

On Holding climbed 13.7% after the footwear maker

posted a beat-and-raise quarter for sales on strong demand for

its running shoes.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden unveiled a bundle of

steep tariff increases on an array of Chinese imports including

electric vehicles, computer chips and medical products.

U.S.-listed shares of Chinese EV maker Li Auto slid

1.7%.

Tesla gained 3%, boosting indexes.

GameStop ( GME ) jumped 62.8%, set to extend its rally after

flag bearer Roaring Kitty posted on X.com for the first time in

three years.

Other 2021 meme rally participants and highly shorted stocks

such as AMC Entertainment ( AMC ) and Koss Corp ( KOSS ) rose

86% and 33.1%, respectively.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.93-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE and by a 2.62-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 12 new 52-week highs and no new lows

while the Nasdaq recorded 71 new highs and 39 new lows.

(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Shristi Achar A in

Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Devika Syamnath)