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August producer prices slightly above estimates

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Moderna ( MRNA ) tumbles after dour FY25 revenue forecast

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Warner Brothers Discovery rises 10% on Charter deal

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Indexes up: Dow 0.58%, S&P 500 0.75%, Nasdaq 1.00%

(Updates with final closing prices, latest volume data)

By Sinéad Carew and Shashwat Chauhan

Sept 12 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes closed

higher on Thursday after the latest inflation data reinforced

expectations for a 25-basis point rate cut by the Federal

Reserve, while Moderna's ( MRNA ) weak revenue forecast made it the S&P

500's biggest percentage loser.

The producer price index (PPI) for final demand rose 0.2% in

August, compared with estimates for 0.1% growth. The core

number, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, rose

0.3%, higher than the 0.2% forecast.

Separately, initial claims for state unemployment benefits

stood at 230,000 for the week ended Sept. 7, in line with

estimates.

"This week's data pretty much confirms that we're not likely

to have a hard landing and that we're in a soft landing," said

Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in

Charlottesville, Virginia.

"As long as investors see that interest rate cut and a path

forward for interest rate cuts they're excited about prospects

in the stock market and especially the growthier sections."

A string of weakening employment and economic growth data in

the past few weeks had fueled some bets on a larger-than-usual

50-bps interest rate cut by the Fed, but these bets had faded

after Wednesday's inflation report.

While on Thursday the bets fluctuated, traders were still

betting on a 69% chance the U.S. central bank cuts rates by just

25 bps when it meets on Sept. 17-18, CME's FedWatch Tool showed.

It would be the first rate cut since March 2020.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 235.06 points,

or 0.58%, to 41,096.77, the S&P 500 gained 41.63 points,

or 0.75%, to 5,595.76 and the Nasdaq Composite gained

174.15 points, or 1.00%, to 17,569.68.

The more economically sensitive small-cap Russell 2000

outperformed with a 1.2% gain.

"There's probably some bargain hunting. Small caps is an

area that's lagged all year and they'll tend to be rate

sensitive so if rates are coming down that might have a decent

impact," said Chuck Carlson, CEO of Horizon Investment Services

in Hammond, Indiana.

All of the S&P 500's 11 industry sectors ended higher,

led by communication services, which added 2%.

The sector's biggest percentage gainer was Warner Bros

Discovery ( WBD ), which advanced 10.4% after it announced with

Charter Communications ( CHTR ) that the cable company would

provide customers an ad-supported version of Warner's streaming

services Max and Discovery+. Charter shares rose 3.6%.

Moderna ( MRNA ) finished down 12.4% after hitting its

lowest level since November. The vaccine maker had forecast

sales of $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion next year, below analysts'

estimates.

In more bullish news, Kroger ( KR ) shares rallied 7.2%

after the supermarket chain beat second-quarter estimates and

raised the lower end of its annual sales forecast.

Shares of gold miners jumped as spot gold hit a

record high, with the Arca Gold BUGS index rising 5.8%.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.45-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE where there were 405 new highs and 46 new lows.

On the Nasdaq, 2,665 stocks rose and 1,543 fell as

advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.73-to-1 ratio. The

S&P 500 posted 37 new 52-week highs and no new lows while the

Nasdaq Composite recorded 73 new highs and 76 new lows.

On U.S. exchanges 10.58 billion shares changed hands

compared with the 10.82 billion moving average for the last 20

sessions.