Stocks steamed higher Wednesday after a better-than-expected report on consumer prices tempered some of Wall Street’s concerns about inflation. The Dow Jones industrial average at times rose more than 100 points.

The Labor Department’s report that consumer prices advanced 0.2 percent in April after rising 0.3 percent in March appeared to alleviate Wall Street’s worries about a big spike in prices due to the recent surge in energy costs. The decline in prices comes despite the largest jump in food prices in 18 years.

Wall Street has been concerned that higher food and energy costs are cutting into consumers’ ability to spend. Any pullback is an unnerving prospect for investors because consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.

In the first hour of trading, the Dow rose 99.82, or 0.78 percent, to 12,932.00.

Broader stock indicators also rose. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 10.12, or 0.72 percent, to 1,413.16, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 19.51, or 0.78 percent, to 2,514.63.

Light, sweet crude oil fell $1.26 to $124.54 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Bond prices rose as inflation concerns eased. Rising prices can make fixed-income investments less attractive. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.89 percent from 3.91 percent late Tuesday.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

In corporate news, Macy’s Inc. reported it lost $59 million in the first quarter because of weaker sales and costs tied to combining businesses. But the results topped Wall Street’s expectations and the stock rose $1.49, or 6.2 percent, to $25.55.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 169.2 million shares.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 3.20, or 0.43 percent, to 740.05.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 1.18 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.14 percent, Germany’s DAX index rose 0.05 percent, and France’s CAC-40 advanced 1.07 percent.

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