Consumer-related stocks rose on the Chilean stock exchange, but the Chilean index ended lower mainly due to the sharp decline of SQM.

The latest batch of US economic data reinforced rate cut bets and lifted stocks in New York, propelling its indices to new record highs on Wednesday. In Chile, however, SQM dragged down the performance of the local stock market.

With official trading closed on Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 1.17% to a record of 5,308.21 points, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.4%, and the Dow Jones advanced 0.89%, also reaching new highs. Interest rates fell sharply in the US Treasury bond yield curve.

The highlight of the day was the April CPI in the US, which generally met expectations of slowing prices. Retail sales, along with manufacturing and real estate sector confidence surveys, complemented the data with further signals that economic adjustment is underway.

On the Chilean side, the S&P IPSA ended down 0.25% at 6,752.81 points (preliminary), losing its record high from Tuesday. SQM-B (-3.41%) experienced the largest decline (its competitor Albemarle retreated 6.09%), and due to its high internal weighting, it negatively impacted a session that was largely positive for Chilean stocks.

In fact, 17 out of the 29 IPSA stocks closed with gains. Mallplaza (2.23%), Cencosud (1.93%), and Ripley (1.75%) led the session’s advances, with Falabella (0.66%) and Parque Arauco (0.35%) also rising.

Overall, the figures released today in the US indicate that there is room for rate cuts by the Fed.