S&P 500 hits record high as Wall Street brushes off higher inflation data

Meme stocks flit between gains and losses; Boeing gains on possible UAL order

US stocks rose on Thursday, with the S&P 500 hitting a record high, as investors doubted whether a spike in May consumer prices would spur early policy tightening by the Federal Reserve.

The Labor Department said its consumer price index increased 0.6% last month after surging 0.8% in April. In the 12 months through May, CPI accelerated 5.0% in its biggest year-on-year increase since August 2008.

The jump partly reflected the dropping of last spring's weak readings from the calculation. These so-called base effects are expected to level off in June.

"The numbers were slightly more than expected, but not way outside of