US open: Markets rise on cooling inflation data

US stocks rose on Thursday after a closely watched gauge of inflation showed that price pressures continues to ease last month, reigniting hopes of a rate cut in the first half of the year.

By 0944 in New York, the Dow was up 0.16%, the S&P 500 rose 0.44% and the Nasdaq gained 0.82%.

According to the Department of Commerce, the so-called price deflator for personal consumption expenditures (PCE) rose by 2.4% year-on-year in January, in line with forecasts following a 2.6% annual increase in December. Meanwhile, the core rate eased to 2.8% from 2.9%, matching economists' expectations.

"The Federal Reserve is focused on the direction of inflation, and we still think there is a good chance core PCE inflation will fall to 2.5% by March, which would leave the door open to a May rate cut," said economist Michael Pearce from Oxford Economics.

Meanwhile, data showed that personal income growth surged to 1.0% month-on-month in January, after the 0.3% increase seen in December, though that didn't translate into a jump in spending growth, which slowed to just 0.2% from 0.7%. The weak consumer spending outcome was thought to be a pullback from strong holiday shopping sales in December and weather-related weakness in auto sales.

In other news, jobless claims rose to 215,000 in the week to 23 February, from a revised 202,000 the week before and ahead of the 210,000 expected.

Investors were also keeping their eyes on the Chicago PMI, pending home sales and speeches from regional Fed presidents Raphael Bostic and Austan Goolsbee.

In the corporate space, CRM software provider Salesforce fell 1% despite beating forecasts with its quarterly earnings and launching a share buyback, as it disappointed the market with weak revenue targets for the coming financial year.

Also falling was cloud-computing firm Snowflake which dropped around 20% after underwhelming with its growth outlook and announcing the surprise and immediate departure of its chief executive.