Wall Street maintained its bullish momentum on Tuesday, as the publication of indicators deemed mediocre encouraged investors to continue betting on the Fed's next monetary easing.

As mid-day approached, the Dow Jones gained more than 1.4% to 40,791.1 points, while the Nasdaq Composite clawed back 0.1% to 18,497.9 points.791.1 points, while the Nasdaq Composite clawed back 0.1% to 18,497.9 points.

Investors reacted well to retail sales figures released early this morning, which showed that consumer spending remained sluggish in the USA.

According to data published by the Commerce Department, retail sales remained perfectly flat on a sequential basis in June, whereas they had been expected to fall by 0.2%.

"We can probably feel the combined effects of the depletion of excess savings built up during the Covid crisis and the monetary tightening implemented over two years ago", commented Bastien Drut, Head of Strategy and Economic Research at CPR AM.

These new data - which confirm the risk of a slowdown in growth in the second half of the year - validate the scenario now favoured by the markets of two Fed rate cuts between now and the end of the year.

The prospect of future rate cuts was reinforced this morning by import price figures, which were unchanged in June, showing that inflation is increasingly under control in the country.

Over the past two months, the market's rise has been largely driven by the easing of inflationary pressures and the increasing likelihood of monetary easing as early as September.

On the bond market, expectations of rate cuts are pushing down the yield on 10-year Treasuries, which, at less than 4.20%, equal almost four-month lows.

The easing of rates is propelling gold to new all-time highs, with the ounce currently trading up 1.3% at 2,459.9 points.

The dollar is strengthening slightly against the euro, which is down 0.15% at 1.0880, still trapped in its 1.06-1.09 range, two days ahead of the European Central Bank's (ECB) monetary policy announcements.

The oil market is consolidating after five consecutive weeks of gains, a victim of the greenback's strength and concerns about the health of the Chinese economy following yesterday's weaker-than-expected growth figures, which led Texas crude to drop 1% to $81.1 a barrel on the NYMEX.

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