Following a mixed start to the week, stock futures were pointing to a positive open for today’s trading session as new inflation data are in hand. Overnight, markets in Asia were mixed but mostly higher. Meanwhile, the major European indexes are largely in the plus column. Elsewhere, oil prices are hovering around the unchanged mark, with West Texas Intermediate at around $77.90 a barrel.
This morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the latest figures for its Consumer Price Index (CPI). The report showed that prices increased 3.2% in February, year over year. This was slightly higher than January’s reading and the Wall Street consensus of 3.1%. Meanwhile, the month-over-month change was 0.4%, in line with analyst forecasts and up slightly from an increase of 0.3% the month before. The so-called core CPI figure (which excludes more-volatile food and energy costs) was up 0.4% for the month and 3.8% for the year.
The rest of this week’s key economic reports are clustered together on Thursday. The Census Bureau is due to release retail sales numbers for February. Expectations are calling for a month-to-month uptick of 0.8%, which would be an improvement from the 0.8% dip registered in January. We’ll also get the Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures the change in prices of goods sold by manufacturers. Analysts are looking for a monthly increase of 0.3%, which would match last month’s report. Lastly, the Department of Labor’s weekly report on initial jobless claims is expected to be up slightly, to 218,000, versus 217,000 last week.
Things pick up next week, with the main event being the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. As it stands, it is widely expected that the central bank will keep its overnight target lending rate unchanged at 5.25%-5.50%. Indeed, the consensus on Wall Street suggests there will be no changes until the Fed’s June meeting, with prognosticators calling for a slightly better than 50% chance of a quarter-point hike at that time.
Summing up Monday’s moves for the major indexes, the Dow Jones Industrials climbed 46 points, or 0.1%, the S&P 500 fell five points (0.1%), and the tech-focused NASDAQ dropped 65 points (0.4%). - Mario Ferro
At the time of this article’s writing, the author did not have positions in any of the companies mentioned.
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