02:11 PM EDT, 03/12/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity indexes were higher intraday after official data showed that consumer inflation decelerated more than expected in February.

The Nasdaq Composite was up 1.5% at 17,695 after midday Wednesday, while the S&P 500 rose 0.9% to 5,619.5. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2% to 41,523.5. Among sectors, technology paced the gainers, while consumer staples saw the biggest drop.

In economic news, the US consumer price index increased 0.2% sequentially and 2.8% annually last month. A Bloomberg-complied consensus had pegged the growth rates at 0.3% and 2.9%, respectively.

"This was a well-behaved CPI inflation report that will raise expectations for an even tamer core (personal consumption expenditures) inflation print later this month," BMO said. "This will calm market fears that consumer inflation is meaningfully heating up again and getting away from the (Federal Reserve's) goal even before new tariffs on goods imports hit."

The official producer price report for February is scheduled to be released Thursday.

Mortgage applications in the US climbed for the second week in a row as declining home financing rates propped up refinancing activity, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday.

US Treasury yields were higher intraday, with the two-year rate rising 3.9 basis points to 3.98% and the 10-year rate advancing 1.3 basis points to 4.30%.

Canada will impose 25% retaliatory tariffs on more than $20 billion of US goods, effective Thursday, CNBC reported, citing Canadian Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc.

Separately, the European Union said it will impose counter-tariffs on up to 26 billion euros ($28.35 billion) worth of US goods starting next month.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 2.3% at $67.77 a barrel intraday.

In company news, Nvidia ( NVDA ) shares jumped 6.7%, the top gainer on the Dow and among the best on the S&P 500. Tesla (TSLA) shares were up 8.3%, among the best performers on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.

Other mega-cap stocks Microsoft ( MSFT ) , Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Meta Platforms ( META ) , and Amazon.com ( AMZN ) were also up, while Apple ( AAPL ) dropped 1.8%, making it one of the worst performers on the Dow.

Salesforce ( CRM ) said it plans to invest $1 billion in Singapore over the next five years to accelerate the country's digital transformation and the adoption of its new artificial intelligence platform, Agentforce. The company's shares rose 2.7%, the second-best Dow performer.

United Airlines (UAL) was among the steepest decliners on the S&P 500, down 4.2%, as BofA Securities, TD Cowen, and Barclays trimmed their price targets on the carrier's stock.

Gold was up 0.9% at $2,947.1 per troy ounce, while silver gained 1.9% to $33.77 per ounce.