Stock futures trade cautiously ahead of jobless claims, producer prices
Fed’s Jerome Powell under building pressure to raise rates: DiMartino Booth
Quill Intelligence LLC. CEO Danielle DiMartino Booth weighs in on record-high inflation and the impact on real wages.
U.S. equity futures were trading modestly higher ahead of the release of key economic data.
The major futures indexes suggested a gain of 0.1% for stocks when trading begins on Wall Street.
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Reports on the labor market and wholesale prices on deck Thursday morning.
The Labor Department is out with its tally of new claims for unemployment benefits for last week. Expectations are for 200,000, down from 207,000 the prior week and not far above a 52-year low of 188,000 in the first week of December. Continuing claims, which track the total number of unemployed workers collecting benefits, are anticipated to fall 21,000 to 1.733 million, another pre-pandemic low.
Traders will also examine another inflation report in the form of producer prices.
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The December producer price index was expected to rise 0.4% month-over-month according to Refinitiv forecasts, half of November’s increase. Year-over-year, prices paid by wholesalers were anticipated to jump 9.8%; that’s up from 9.6% in November and would be the eighth straight series high and the 16th consecutive month of annual increases.
Factoring out volatile food and energy costs, core producer prices were anticipated to pop 0.5% in December, slightly below November’s 0.7% gain. Year-over-year look for core PPI to jump 8.0% in December, the highest annual growth on record.
INFLATION SURGES 7% IN DECEMBER, HIGHEST RATE IN 40 YEARS
On Wednesday, investors were focused on a report from the Labor Department, which showed consumer prices jumped 7% last month. That's the fastest year-over-year pace in the consumer price index in nearly four decades.
In Europe, London's FTSE slipped 0.2%, Germany's DAX was off 0.2% and France's CAC declined 0.5%.
In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index dropped 1%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong edged 0.1% higher, while China's Shanghai Composite shed 1.2%.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 36290.32 | +38.30 | +0.11% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 4726.35 | +13.28 | +0.28% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 15188.392289 | +34.94 | +0.23% |
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 4,726.35. The Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a 0.1% gain, closing at 36,290.32. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.2% to 15,188.39. All are on pace for a weekly gain.
Delta Air Lines reports its results on Thursday. Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo report results on Friday.
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In other trading, U.S. benchmark crude oil added 4 cents to $82.73 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gained $1.42 to $82.64 per barrel on Wednesday.
Brent crude, the basis for pricing international oils, gained 17 cents to $84.83 per barrel.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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