Stocks edged up on Thursday as bond yields eased after reaching decades-long highs. However, oil prices jumped.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.04% The S&P 500 climbed 0.20%.
The indexes climbed even as Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari said inflation concerns remain despite the central bank's preferred gauge being much cooler than expected.
Speaking at a Council on Foreign Relations event in New York, Kashkari said that "there are many different measures of inflation, but it's running at around a 3% rate."
"It's been elevated now for more than five years. I didn't think the inflation data today really changed that story for me very much." He went on to note that other data also released on Wednesday, including an updated GDP report and private payrolls, showed that the U.S. economy remains "resilient."
According to the latest data from the Commerce Department, the personal consumption expenditures price index climbed a seasonally adjusted 0.3% for the month. The 12-month gain stood at 3.4%, below the 3.7% expected by economists.
Elsewhere, oil jumped following a report claiming that the U.S. is sending a third aircraft carrier to the Middle East. Citing U.S. officials, The Wall Street Journal reported that 10,000 additional troops are also being deployed to the region. They will arrive by the end of November.
A new interview published on Thursday saw President Donald Trump criticizing Iranian leadership as negotiations to reach a ceasefire continue to be stalled, saying he could escalate hostilities if a deal is not reached by the November midterms.
In a wide-ranging interview with TIME Magazine, Trump said the U.S. "created peace in the world" by "annihilating Iran."
"With Iran, I don't think you could ever have peace," Trump added. He went on to recall that the Tehran regime killed "75,000 people in the last number of months" to quash protests.
"It's unbelievable. It's a bloodbath. So we'll see. And the reason people don't rise up, because they're afraid of being killed. You know, they go out in the street and they end up killing 1,000 people, 2,000," Trump said.
The interview was published around the same time Axios reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered the Iranian delegation to the UN to leave the U.S. after failing to make progress in negotiations.
"Secretary Rubio kicked out the Iranian delegation who had overstayed their welcome. The UN General Assembly was over, so it was time for them to go," a U.S. official told the outlet.
The outlet went on to note that there seemed to be progress on Monday morning, but by the afternoon that notion had evaporated. Hours later, Rubio ordered the Iranian delegation to leave the country, something that happened in the early hours of Tuesday. Another source told the outlet that the delegation was scheduled to leave anyway.
