us stocks jumped to their biggest gains in more than two years after softerthanexpected inflation data reignited bets that the federal reserve would slow the pace of its interestrate increases the sp 500 added 55 while the technologyfocused nasdaq composite index soared more than 73 the dow jones industrial average rose 37 overall us inflation was 77 down from 82 in september the core consumerprice index rose 63 in october from a year earlier less than the 65 increase economists had expected thursdays rally was a stark reminder of how much weight investors have been putting on the path of inflation this year we believe that the stock and bond markets have found a bottom and we can rally off the lows said jay hatfield portfolio manager at infrastructure capital advisors japanese stocks were higher in early trade led by gains in electronics and chemical stocks after weaker us inflation data overnight raised hopes for the feds slower tightening earnings were in focus with softbank group and olympus corp set to announce their results later in the day the nikkei stock average was up 26 at 2814851 south koreas benchmark kospi rose 29 to 247098 in early trade tracking wall streets rally overnight on a softer us inflation reading tech and internet stocks led the broadbased rally the lowerthanexpected rise in the us consumer price index for october is fueling hopes the fed would slow its policy tightening boosting investor appetite for riskier assets like equities and the local currency usdkrw fell 22 to 134750 the lowest level in more than two months hong kongs hang seng index rose 59 to 1702962 in early trade after us stocks staged their biggest rally since 2020 following weakerthanexpected inflation data in october tech and chinese property stocks were driving the market upturn with alibaba group tencent holdings and meituan adding between 80 and 12 while longfor group surged 20 and country garden holdings advanced 16 chinese shares rose in early trade tracking gains on wall street overnight investors expect the fed to slow the pace of its rate increases after weakerthanexpected cpi data which is likely to give beijing more room to further cut rates while the economy is slowing down most stocks in the mainland market rose with property and financial companies leading gains the shanghai composite index rose 21 to 309965 the shenzhen composite index was up 25 and the chinext price index was 37 higher the wsj dollar index fell 24 which would be its biggest drop since march 18 2009 if current levels hold according to dow jones market data riskier assets like stocks cheered a softerthanexpected inflation reading today while the data sent haven assests like the dollar tumbling markets are now pricing an 85 chance of a 50 basispoint fed rate increase in december up from a roughly 57 chance yesterday the dollar weakened 2 against the euro 39 against the yen and 31 against the pound the wsj dollar index is still up 12 for the year gold edged lower in the early asian session in a likely technical correction after gold futures settled at their highest price since late august overnight however the precious metals losses may be limited by mild usd weakness analysts said the us inflation report has made markets confident the fed can slow to a 50bp rateincrease pace and possibly be done with tightening after the march fomc meeting said edward moya senior market analyst at oanda in an email gold could have a steady path toward 1800oz level if usd weakness persists moya added spot gold was down 02 at 175229oz oil rose in the asian morning session amid positive market sentiment analysts said oil prices are getting a reprieve on usd weakness and a substantial repricing in us recession risk as a soft landing looks far more credible with an expected downshift in the feds aggressive rateincrease trajectory said stephen innes managing partner of spi asset management in an email frontmonth wti crude oil futures rose 04 to 8678bbl frontmonth brent crude oil futures were 03 higher at 9393bbl