NEW YORN - Wall Street stocks climbed on Feb 29 as investors assessed a key US inflation gauge, with all three major indices up while the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index set a new record.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1 per cent to 38,996.39, while the S&P 500 gained 0.5 per cent to 5,096.27.

The Nasdaq surged 0.9 per cent to 16,091.92, surpassing a 2021 high.

The positive moves came as the US central bank’s favoured inflation measure edged lower on an annual basis in January, according to Commerce Department data released earlier in the day.

The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose at an annual rate of 2.4 per cent in January, down 0.2 percentage points from December.

Investors had started the trading day “very worried about the PCE,” nervous that inflation data could come in higher than expected, said Mr Steve Sosnick, of Interactive Brokers.

“But it came in as expected and we ended up with a decent rally,” he added. “It’s a bit of a relief rally.”

For now, analysts expect that this will not change the Federal Reserve’s policy direction.

A cooling in the PCE price index could also help persuade Fed policymakers to cut rates sooner rather than later.

Among individual companies, Snowflake shares slumped more than 18 per cent after the cloud software company said its CEO was retiring. AFP