U.S. stock futures showed markets set for a muted open on Thursday after a drop the previous day as the consumer-price index rose more than expected. Attention will now be on the release of producer price index data to see if it backs up the trend.
The average of economists’ forecasts is for a 0.3% increase in the PPI in March, according to FactSet. That would be down from 0.6% growth in February, when a 4.4% surge in energy prices pushed up the index. The PPI is expected to be 2.2% higher than a year earlier.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note stood at 4.553% early on Thursday, broadly flat from the previous day after surging from around 4.35% in the wake of the CPI data.
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U.S. stock futures were falling on Thursday after a drop the previous day as the consumer-price index rose more than expected. Attention will now be on the release of producer price index data to see if it backs up the trend.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 99 points, or 0.3%. S&P 500 futures were down 2%, as were those on the Nasdaq Composite.
All three indexes fell on Wednesday after March’s core CPI rose 3.8% from a year earlier. That pushed traders to effectively eliminate the implied chances of a change in the Federal Reserve’s fed-funds rate in May or June.
“The reaction to the CPI report adds further fuel to the belief that equity markets are in for a period of sluggishness following a strong year-to-date return. As the focus shifts to earnings season, investors may watch with a different lens, with strong results potentially further adjusting rate cut assumptions, returning us to a “good news is bad news” posture,” wrote MArk Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide.
The focus now moves to the March producer price index on Thursday. The average of economists’ forecasts is for a 0.3% increase in the PPI in March, according to FactSet. That would be down from 0.6% growth in February, when a 4.4% surge in energy prices pushed up the index. The PPI is expected to be 2.2% higher than a year earlier.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note stood at 4.553% early on Thursday, broadly flat from the previous day after surging from around 4.35% in the wake of the CPI data.
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