The core US consumer price index (CPI) excluding food and energy increased at a 3.2% annual rate and reignited some hopes the Federal Reserve will be able to cut rates more than once at some point this year.

The December number was slightly below the previous month’s and the economists’ forecast of 3.3%. The yield on the 10-Year Treasury Note dropped to 4.65%.

The banks created a strong start to the latest US quarterly reporting season by beating market earnings forecasts. Citigroup was up 6.49% to US$78.27; Goldman Sachs increased 6.02% to US$605.92; and Wells Fargo rose 6.69% to US$75.95.

Stats NZ said food prices increased by 1.5% in the 12 months to December, up from a 1.3% rise in November, with fruit and vegetable prices increasing 3.1% compared with November and led by spikes in butter, standard 2-litre milk and olive oil. Overall, grocery prices decreased by 0.2% in December.

Smith said food inflationary pressures have eased but consumers are still being squeezed on key staple products, with the price of butter up 50% from 12 months ago.

ANZ Research said the fourth quarter consumers price index, released next Wednesday, is expected to show annual inflation at 2.2%, unchanged from the third quarter and just above the Reserve Bank’s forecast of 2.1%.

A result close to that expectation is unlikely to take a 50-basis point cut in the Official Cash Rate (OCR) off the table. Beyond that, the trajectory for core and potentially-sticky domestic inflation will determine where the OCR eventually settles, said ANZ.

Gentrack increased 51c or 4.4% to $12.10; Port of Tauranga was up 20c or 3.2% to $6.45; Chorus added 20c or 2.31% to $8.86; Ebos gained 30c to $36.60; and Vista Group recovered 10c or 3.37% to $3.07.

Mainfreight and a2 Milk are benefiting from the weaker NZ dollar and gained 90c to $71.85 and 11c or 1.78% to $6.30 respectively.

Leading banks, ANZ was up 78c or 2.41% to $33.10, and Westpac increased 59c to $35.89.

Fonterra Co-operative Group has listed its farmer shares on the NZX main board and was up 15c or 3.41% to $4.55. Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund gained 5c to $4.97.

Meridian Energy, up 7.5c to $5.94, reported that national hydro storage declined from 134% to 114% of historical average for the month ending January 13. South Island storage decreased to 112% of average and North Island increased to 126%.

The month of December was the fifth warmest on record, and national electricity demand was 3.2% lower than the same month in 2023.

Retail sales volumes in December were 2.6% higher than the same month in 2023. For the second quarter Meridian’s sales were up 1.3% at a 4.4% higher average price, with volumes increasing in the agriculture and large business sectors.

Elsewhere in the energy sector, Mercury was down 12c or 1.98% to $5.93 and Contact gained 21c or 2.24% to $9.60.

Sky TV climbed a further 8c or 2.91% to $2.83; ikeGPS rose 5c or 9.26% to 59c; Seeka was up 10c or 3.07% to $3.36; Scott Technology added 4c or 1.74% to $2.34; and NZME gained 3c or 2.86% to $1.08.

Hallenstein Glasson was up 8c to $4.80; Scales Corp collected 9c or 2.14% to $4.29; T&G Global gained 4c or 2.58% to $1.59; South Port NZ increased 19c or 3.36% to $5.85; Comvita rebounded 3c or 3.85% to 81c; Bremworth improved 1.5c or 3.7% to 42c.

Auckland International Airport was down 10.5c to $8.575; Fletcher Building declined 9c or 3.07% to $2.84; Allied Farmers shed 3c or 3.8% to 76c; Third Age Health fell 12c or 4.29% to $2.68; NZX decreased 3c or 2% to $1.47; and Santana Minerals was down 2.5c or 4.76% to 50c.

In the property sector, Stride was up 4c or 3.1% to $1.33; Kiwi was down 3c or 3.17% to 91.5c; and Goodman Trust eased 3.5c to $2.05.