US stocks surged higher Wednesday after an encouraging inflation report and blockbuster profits for some of America’s biggest banks.

World stocks are mixed follow Wall Street’s mostly positive performance ahead of key U.S. inflation data that could influence the pace of the Federal Reserve’s rate cuts.

Economists polled by Reuters expect Australia's inflation to rise 2.5% in the 12 months to the December quarter, from 2.8% in the previous year.

During his inauguration speech, President Trump promised to use his federal powers to "defeat what was record inflation and rapidly bring down costs and prices." Read More: Here's What

The US financial markets have recovered somewhat after being decimated by the emergence of a new Chinese AI app, and today's inflation data may finally put us on track for an interest rate cut.

SLB helped lead the market after the provider of services to oilfields delivered bigger profit and revenue for the end of 2024 than analysts expected. It jumped 6.1% after it also raised its dividend by 3.6% and said it’s returning $2.3 billion to its investors by buying back its own stock.

Wall Street is pointing slightly lower in early trading but is on track to close the week with solid gains on healthy quarterly earnings reports from large U.S. corporations.

A rally on Wall Street is likely to send Australian stocks higher, while the Buerau of Statistics is set to release the December quarter inflation data at 11:30am AEDT. Follow the latest updates in our live blog.

Asia-Pacific markets trade mostly higher on Friday following an upbeat session on Wall Street overnight after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would push for lower interest rates and cheaper oil prices,

“These aren’t good numbers,” Brusuelas said of the inflation report. “The bond market is very skittish right now. And they are prone to overreaction.” Wall Street is mixed on future Fed ...

Wall Street has been lurching down and up for weeks ... but it could also give inflation more fuel. Traders were ebullient last year about the possibility of a string of cuts to rates, when ...

Shares were mixed in thin Asian trading on Monday after U.S. stocks edged back from their all-time high. Oil prices fell and U.S. futures sank, while Chinese shares shed some of their early gains after a survey of manufacturers showed export orders dropping to a five-month low.