Stock market today: US futures slip as traders react to hotter-than-expected inflation print

Feb 20, 2024
stock-market-today:-us-futures-slip-as-traders-react-to-hotter-than-expected-inflation-print
  • US stock futures fell in premarket trading Tuesday.
  • Traders are reacting to a hotter-than-expected figure for the producer prices index.
  • Walmart and Home Depot are both set to post quarterly earnings on Tuesday.

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Bull

US futures fell ahead of Tuesday’s opening bell as traders returned to their desks after the Presidents Day holiday.

S&P 500 futures dipped 0.28% and Nasdaq futures were down 0.42% shortly after 5 a.m. ET. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were trading 0.16% lower. 

Meanwhile, yields on 10-year US Treasury notes were level, as was the US Dollar Index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of six other currencies.

The benchmark stock indices fell Friday to snap a five-week winning streak after the producer prices index came in at a higher level than economists were predicting. That signaled to the market that the Federal Reserve might not be able to call time on its war against inflation just yet.

“With a key inflation reading, the producer prices index, coming in hotter than expected on Friday, investor hopes of rapid cuts to interest rates by the Federal Reserve have cooled off, leading to more risk-off sentiment,” said Hargreaves Lansdown’s Susannah Streeter in a morning note.

Walmart and Home Depot are among the companies set to report their quarterly earnings before Tuesday’s opening bell.

Trillion-dollar chipmaker Nvidia, which has been the S&P 500‘s best-performing stock this year, is due to post earnings on Wednesday, in a potential test for the AI investing frenzy that’s driven markets higher in recent months.

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