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Key Takeaways
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The S&P 500 added 0.1% on Tuesday, Jan. 14, as tame wholesale inflation data provided a positive signal ahead of Wednesday's consumer price report.
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Eli Lilly shares plunged after the pharma giant cut its sales guidance, suggesting its popular diabetes and weight-loss treatments could fall short of huge demand expectations.
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Shares of United Rentals took off as the company signed a deal to buy fellow construction and industrial equipment provider H&E Equipment Services.
Major U.S. equities indexes were mixed on Tuesday after the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) data showed a lighter-than-expected uptick in wholesale prices for December. The soft PPI report helped alleviate some concerns about the stickiness of inflation heading into Wednesday morning's Consumer Price Index (CPI) report.
The S&P 500 was volatile during the session, fluctuating above and below its opening level before closing with a minimal 0.1% gain. The Dow jumped 0.5%, boosted by outperformance from several of its industrial components, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.2%.
Among top S&P 500 gainers Tuesday, construction and industrial equipment provider United Rentals (URI) inked a $4.8 billion deal to acquire fellow heavy-duty equipment rental company H&E Equipment Services (HEES). United Rentals said the planned acquisition reflects its strategy to grow its core business, with H&E's assets boosting its capacity in key U.S. markets. United Rentals shares added 5.9%, notching the strongest gains of any S&P 500 stock on Tuesday, while H&E shares skyrocketed, more than doubling in value.
Shares of industrial chemical manufacturer Celanese (CE) jumped 5.4% after Bank of America upgraded its view on the stock to "buy" from "underperform." Analysts attributed the double upgrade to the stock's enticing valuation and expectations for an improvement in the acetyls market. In addition to anticipating a recovery in demand for Celanese's products, especially in India, the BofA team noted strong free cash flow should help the chemical maker address debt leverage issues.
Fresh off massive 2024 gains of more than 250% that made the electricity generator's stock one of the year's top S&P 500 performers, Vistra (VST) shares added 5.2% on Tuesday. On Monday, Zacks Equities Research highlighted Vistra stock as its "bull of the day," reiterating the utility's opportunity to meet high levels of energy demand from artificial intelligence data centers and noting that consensus estimates suggest that Vistra's already-impressive earnings growth trajectory could accelerate this year.