Alphabet’s shares rose due to a better-than-expected Producer Price Index report, which showed a monthly drop in inflation. This resulted in a 1.8% increase in Alphabet’s stock as of 11:03 a.m. ET, while the Nasdaq had gained 1.4% at the same time. The lower inflation rates benefit tech stocks as it is expected to discourage the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates.
Alphabet is also set to ask a judge to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Justice Department, which claims that Google has a monopoly in search through exclusionary distribution agreements, such as the default search engine on web browsers like Safari and Firefox.