Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on September 04, 2024 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
U.S. stock futures inched lower Wednesday night as investors brace for more inflation and labor data, following a volatile session spurred by the release of the August consumer price index.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell by 28 points, or 0.07%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.09% and 0.19%, respectively.
Investors are coming off a choppy session, after a late-day advance in tech shares helped the major benchmarks rebound from their lows. The S&P 500 ended the day higher by 1.07%, even after falling 1% on an intraday basis — a first for the broader index since October 2022.
At the same time, the 30-stock Dow gained 124.75 points, or 0.31%, after losing as much as 743.89 points earlier in the session. The Nasdaq Composite closed 2.17% higher, making a comeback from a decline of more than 1%.
Stocks dropped earlier in the day when August’s consumer price index showed an uptick in core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices. The reading spooked investors hoping for a half-percentage point cut from the Fed at its Sept. 17-18 meeting.
“The inflation report that we saw today is confirming a trend that we’ve acknowledged over the past couple of months, where now that the Fed is — and I think appropriately so — focused less on inflation and more on economic growth, that completely changes market reactivity,” Lauren Goodwin, chief market strategist at New York Life Investments, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Wednesday.
“It means that now good economic news — and I would include today’s inflation report as relatively good news, a little stronger than the markets we’re expecting — that’s going to be good news for the market,” Goodwin continued.
Wall Street is anticipating the release of the August producer price index on Thursday. Economists polled by Dow Jones anticipate a rise of 0.2% last month in the headline and core readings, up from 0.1% and 0.0% previously.
Initial jobless claims data for the week ending Sept. 7 is also on deck, and is expected to have slid to 225,000, down from 227,000 the previous week, according to Dow Jones.
On the earnings front, Kroger is anticipated to report results before the open on Thursday. Adobe will release results after the close.