us stocks opened at their highest level in more than 15 months and headed for a fourth day in the green as another batch of encouraging inflation and employment data spurred hopes for a soft landing for the economy on wednesday the dow jones industrial average rose 86 points or 025 to 34347 the sp 500 increased 33 points or 074 to 4472 and the nasdaq composite gained 158 points or 115 to 13919 us stocks opened higher on thursday as the sp 500 index and nasdaq composite traded at their highest levels since early april 2022 the latest batch of us economic data suggested the federal reserve has managed to bring down inflation without provoking a surge in unemployment and the economic downturn that many had feared after equity bulls were energized by wednesdays news that us consumer inflation has fallen to its lowest level in more than two years thursdays data showed wholesale prices rose a meek 01 in may meanwhile a weekly accounting of the number of americans applying for jobless benefits declined by 12000 to 237000 the data have helped all three main us equity indexes reverse their losses from last week additionally some early corporate earnings reports from pepsi co pep and delta air lines inc dal showed the american consumer is continuing to spend on goods and travel contributing to the markets sunny mood seepepsicos stock gains after beating estimates in latest quarter and raising guidance again borrowing costs also dipped further with the benchmark 10year treasury yield  which started the week near 41 now at 383 bond yields move inversely to prices the ice us dollar index  a gauge of the currencys value against its main rivals also declined slumping to its lowest level in more than a year thursday adding another tailwind to the stockmarket rally bokeh capital partners cio kim forrest said both inflation and employment data may be finally responding to the feds interestrate hikes and quantitative tightening bolstering expectations that the fed might achieve its policy goals without provoking a surge in unemployment or a punishing recession it seems like things are moving in the right direction she said during an interview with marketwatch mohamed elerian adviser to gramercy and allianz agreed that easing inflation is making investors more optimistic about us growth as he noted in a tweet that expectations are moving toward a soft landing even outside the us there was a broad risk on tone across global markets for example the hang seng in hong kong whose currency peg with the us dollar makes it particularly sensitive to fed policy rose 25 on wednesday despite news that greater china exports fell in june by their most since the start of the covid pandemic extending the rally now likely depends on how the secondquarter corporate earnings season is received investors are already looking ahead to friday when big banks such as jpmorgan chase jpm citigroup c and wells fargo wfc will present their quarterly earnings figures overall sp 500 earnings are expected to fall by 64 according to refinitiv though much of this is because of large losses for energy companies this content was created by marketwatch which is operated by dow jones  co marketwatch is published independently from dow jones newswires and the wall street journal