Dow jumps 300 points as US stocks rise ahead of important June inflation reading

• US stocks closed higher on Tuesday as investors got ready for an important June CPI reading.
• The key inflation data will arrive Wednesday morning, ahead of the Fed's next policy meeting at the end of the month.

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.

Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 4 p.m. ET closing bell on Tuesday:

• S&P 500: 4,439.26, up 0.67%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 34,261.42, up 0.93% (317.02 points)
• Nasdaq Composite: 13,760.70, up 0.55%

Here's what else is going on today:

• It's not just tech stocks. FOMO is high across the stock market, but investors are about to be disappointed, said JPMorgan.
• "YOLO" consumers are driving what might be the last good stretch for the economy this year, Jeremy Siegel said.
• Rivian's market value has about doubled in just two weeks. Tesla's big rival just hit a 2023 high.
• China's economic downturn is more shocking than many realize. Here's what one Chinese mogul had to say.
• The Nasdaq 100 is about to undergo a "special rebalance" to address the huge concentration of mega-cap tech stocks.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto:

• Oil prices rose. West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 2.5% to $74.86 a barrel. Brent, the international benchmark, was up 2.2% to $79.43 a barrel.
• Gold edged up 0.3% to $1,937.10 an ounce.
• The 10-year Treasury yield dipped two basis points to 3.978%.
• Bitcoin edged lower to $30,547.