US STOCKS-Nasdaq rises 1%; traders keep rate-cut bets, Oracle jumps

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Feb headline CPI rises 0.4% as expected

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Oracle jumps as AI demand reignites cloud business momentum

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Indexes up: Dow 0.6%, S&P 500 0.9%, Nasdaq 1.2%

(Updates to 1430 ET, adds NEW YORK dateline)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK, March 12 (Reuters) -

U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday, led by a more than 1% gain in the Nasdaq, as slightly hotter-than-expected consumer price data failed to dampen investor hopes of interest rate cuts in the coming months and as Oracle shares surged to a record.

Shares of

Oracle were up 11.8% in afternoon trading, a day after it reported upbeat quarterly results and said it is set to make a joint announcement with chip-giant Nvidia.

Nvidia shares rose 5.3%, and an index of semiconductors was up more than 1% and set to snap a two-day losing streak.

The Labor Department reported that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.4% last month after climbing 0.3% in January. Excluding volatile food and energy components, consumer prices increased 0.4% in February after rising by the same margin in January.

"Investors have gotten comfortable with the notion that it's not about when the Fed will lower rates but rather by how much, and a delay - whether it happens in May like many were initially hoping or in September - ultimately doesn't matter," said Oliver Pursche, senior vice president and advisor for Wealthspire Advisors in Westport, Connecticut.

"It's that they will and that a less restrictive environment is coming."

"In the meantime, if you look at economic data, it continues to be pretty strong," Pursche added. "And from my perspective as a consumer, employee and investor, I'd rather have a strong economy and slightly elevated interest rates than a weak economy that requires stimulus."

Traders now see a 70% chance of the first rate cut coming in June, the CME FedWatch Tool showed, versus 71% ahead of the inflation report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 221.08 points, or 0.57%, to 38,990.74. The S&P 500 gained 46.21 points, or 0.90%, at 5,164.15 and the Nasdaq Composite added 196.46 points, or 1.23%, at 16,215.73.

Producer price data is due later this week.

Boeing fell 4.7%. A New York Times report said a Federal Aviation Administration audit found dozens of problems with the 737 MAX's production.

Also, U.S. carriers warned that their plans to increase capacity were in doubt due to jet delivery delays from Boeing.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.05-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.26-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 39 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 53 new highs and 105 new lows.

(Additional reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Pooja Desai and Richard Chang)