US stocks ended higher on Tuesday as investors got ready to sift through an important reading of the Consumer Price Index for June.
The key inflation data will be published Wednesday morning. It comes ahead of the Federal Reserve's next policy meeting on July 25-26. Inflation has been falling steadily this year, and clocked in at a 4% year-over-year pace in May, the slowest rate in two years. Yet, Fed officials say they're still not satisfied with the pace of dis-inflation. Officials this week have said that two more rate hikes would likely be justified this year to get inflation back down to the central bank's 2% target.
Big gains in Tuesday's session were seen for Activision Blizzard, which jumped as much as 11% after a federal judge said Microsoft could proceed with its $69 billion takeover of the game publisher. It's a blow to the Federal Trade Commission, which has sought to push back against mega-mergers it says are bad for consumers.