DPA | 15 May, 2008
US stocks rallied Wednesday after government data showed consumer prices had risen less than expected.

Prices for US consumer goods rose at a seasonally adjusted rate of 0.2 percent in April, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said..

The Consumer Price Index increase was less than analysts had predicted and declined from a 0.3 percent increase in March despite rising food prices.

"Lower inflation is extraordinarily important for the market," Eric Green of Penn Capital Management told Bloomberg financial news. "It's wonderful news to have an economy that is being stimulated by a lot of things and at the same time prices are not going up. This could allow financial and discretionary stocks to perform in the short term."

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average added 66.20 points, or 0.5 percent, to 12,898.38. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 5.62 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,408.66. The technology- heavy Nasdaq Composite Index picked up 1.58 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,496.70.

The dollar dipped to 64.61 euro cents from 64.63 euro cents on Tuesday and gained against the Japanese currency to 105.08 yen from 104.76 yen.