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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on February 23, 2024 in New York City.Â
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
S&P 500 futures were little changed Friday as investors tried to wrap up a big week of inflation data on a strong note.
Futures tied to the broad market index added 0.1%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 41 points, or 0.1%. Nasdaq-100 futures fell 0.1%.
Software provider Adobe dropped 11% on weak sales guidance. Beauty stock Ulta slid more than 6% after its full-year earnings forecast largely underwhelmed analysts.
Those moves follow a losing day on Wall Street. The Dow slipped more than 100 points, or about 0.4%, to snap a three-day winning streak. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq each fell around 0.3%.
Thursday’s retreat came after February’s producer price index, a gauge of wholesaler inflation, advanced more than economists anticipated. Bond yields climbed in the session â with the benchmark 10-year Treasury‘s reaching 4.29% â as investors wondered if the recent economic data was too strong for the Federal Reserve to loosen monetary policy.
To be sure, fed funds futures are pricing in a 99% likelihood of the central bank keeping interest rates unchanged at its policy meeting next week, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. But recent economic releases could throw into question whether the Fed feels inflation has cooled enough to begin lowering levels later this year, said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott.
“The path toward a 2% target rate has, at least of recent, been anything but linear,” Luschini said. “I think that’s enough just to ⦠curb the enthusiasm, if you will, of market participants.”
Luschini cautioned that a slide like Thursday’s can also be considered normal after recent gains. Despite the leg down, the Dow and S&P 500 are still tracking to end the week up around 0.5%, while the Nasdaq is on pace to add 0.3%. All three are also higher on the year.
Trading volumes will be elevated and prices may be volatile Friday as futures and options on stock indexes and individual stocks all expire simultaneously in a process known as “triple witching” that happens once a quarter. Investors will watch Friday morning for economic data on topics such as consumer sentiment, import prices and industrial production.
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