Inflation Data May Contribute To Initial Weakness On Wall Street
(RTTNews) - After ending yesterday's choppy trading session modestly lower, stocks may see further downside in early trading on Wednesday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a lower open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures down by 0.4 percent.
The futures slid into negative territory after the Labor Department released its closely watched report on consumer price inflation in the month of September.
While the report showed consumer prices grew in line with estimates, it also showed a bigger than expected increase in core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices.
The report said consumer prices climbed by 0.6 percent in September after rising by 0.4 percent in August. The increase in prices matched economist estimates.
The Labor Department also said the annual rate of consumer price growth jumped to 3.7 percent in September from 3.4 percent in August, which was also in line with expectations.
Meanwhile, the report said core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, rose by 0.3 percent for the second straight month. Economists had expected core prices to edge up by 0.2 percent.
The annual rate of core consumer price growth accelerated to 2.6 percent in September from 2.4 percent in August, coming in slightly above economist estimates for 2.5 percent growth.
The bigger than expected increase in core prices may lead to renewed concerns about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's next monetary policy meeting later this month.
Stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Tuesday, extending the lackluster performance seen during Monday's session. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing modestly lower.
The Dow fell 180.45 points or 0.4 percent to 51,670.10, the Nasdaq dipped 41.52 points or 0.2 percent to 27,204.38 and the S&P 500 edged down 1.79 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 7,805.45.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slipped by 0.1 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index slid by 0.9 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index is up by 0.4 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.5 percent.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are jumping $1.54 to $95.68 a barrel after climbing $0.40 to $94.14 a barrel on Tuesday. Meanwhile, an ounce of gold is trading at $4,124.60, down $52.70 compared to the previous session's close of $4,177.30. On Tuesday, gold fell $13.30.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 158.78 yen compared to the 158.29 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Tuesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1141 compared to yesterday's $1.1198.
