Last Updated: 4:00PM EST
Elevate Your Investing Strategy:
- Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 55% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence.
Stock indices finished today’s trading session in the green. The Nasdaq 100 (NDX), the S&P 500 (SPX), and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) gained 1.18%, 0.96%, and 0.4%, respectively.
Earlier today, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee argued that the Federal Open Market Committee shouldn’t delay interest rate cuts until PCE inflation precisely hits the 2% target. Instead, Goolsbee advocated for initiating rate cuts based on a confident trajectory towards the inflation goal, suggesting the recent six months of data could indicate such a path.
Goolsbee’s comments, highlighting that inflation is evidently on a downward trend across various time frames, contrasted with market reactions to recent U.S. consumer price inflation data, which had been unexpectedly high, leading to adjusted expectations for rate cuts to be pushed further into the year.
First Published: 4:40AM EST
U.S. futures inched higher on Wednesday morning as traders looked past the slightly higher-than-expected Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released yesterday. January’s CPI rose 0.3% month-over-month, while economists had forecasted a 0.2% rise. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 (NDX), S&P 500 (SPX), and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) were up about 0.52%, 0.34%, and 0.19%, respectively, at 4:40 a.m. EST, February 14.
Stocks had a rough day on Tuesday after a hotter-than-expected inflation report led investors to think that the Federal Reserve might wait longer to lower interest rates. All three major indexes – the S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow Jones – took a hit.
According to Josh Jamner, an investment strategy analyst at ClearBridge Investments, one unfavorable data point does not indicate that the overall positive trend is reversing. Further, he noted that Fed fund futures are currently pricing in less than 50% probability of a rate cut in May, with the expectation of an initial rate cut in June.
Meanwhile, the U.S. 10-year treasury yield was down at the time of writing, floating near 4.29%. At the same time, the WTI crude oil futures trended higher, hovering around $77.97 per barrel as of the last check, on expectations that the need to restock oil reserves in China, the U.S., and Europe, coupled with tensions in the Middle East, could push oil prices higher.
In key stock market news, chip giant Nvidia’s (NVDA) market cap climbed above Amazon’s (AMZN) on Tuesday, placing NVDA as the fourth most valuable U.S. company. Further, shares of Robinhood (HOOD) surged 11% in yesterday’s extended trading session after posting a surprise Q4 profit.
Moving on to major corporate earnings due today, traders look forward to the results from Cisco (CSCO), Albemarle (ALB), Barrick Gold (GOLD), Twilio (TWLO), Occidental Petroleum (OXY), Suncor (SUN), Energy Transfer (ET), and Kraft Heinz (KHC).
Elsewhere, European markets were muted on Wednesday morning as investors evaluated the U.S. inflation data. At the same time, January inflation in Britain came in below forecasts, with a lower-than-expected rise in the underlying rate of price increases.
Asia-Pacific Markets End Mixed on Wednesday
Asia-Pacific indices finished mixed on Wednesday following the hot CPI print from the U.S.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index trended higher by 0.84%. Chinese stock markets will remain closed this week for the Lunar New Year Holiday. Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei and Topix indices closed lower by 0.69% and 1.05%, respectively.
Interested in more economic insights? Tune in to our LIVE webinar.