Market Snapshot: U.S. stock futures drop ahead of CPI, with oil prices rising, no progress in Ukraine-Russia talks

This post was originally published on this site

U.S. stock futures pointed to a weaker start for Wall Street on Thursday, ahead of key consumer price inflation data and as oil prices resumed a march higher. That’s as high-level Russia-Ukraine negotations in Turkey stalled.

How are stock-index futures trading?
  • S&P 500 futures
    ES00,
    -0.97%

    fell 25.50 points, or 0.7%, to 4,245.25

  • Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
    YM00,
    -0.97%

    fell 172 points, or 0.5%, to 33,088

  • Nasdaq-100 futures
    ES00,
    -0.97%

    fell 96 points, or 0.7%, to 13,364

On Wednesday, the Dow industrials
DJIA,
+2.00%

rose 653.61 points, or 2%, to end at 33,286.25, the S&P 500
SPX,
+2.57%

rose 2.6% to 4,277.88, its best daily percentage gain since June 5, 2020, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 3.6% for its strongest daily percentage rise since March 9, 2021.

What’s driving markets?

Stocks were set to hand back part of Wednesday’s strong rally that was attributed to several factors. Those include the view by some that markets have oversold, a sharp pullback in oil prices and hopes ahead of key negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

Read: Wartime market volatility on display as stocks surge, dollar and oil plunge

But talks between the warring nation’s foreign ministers wrapped early Thursday with no progress in securing a 24-hour ceasefire. That’s as Russian forces continued to lay seige to major Ukraine cities, including a deadly attack on a maternity hospital in Mariupol.

Oil prices resumed a march higher on Thursday, with U.S. futures
CL00,
+4.07%

CL.1,
+4.07%

CLJ22,
+4.07%

up 4% to $113.17 a barrel and Brent crude prices
BRN00,
+4.90%

BRNK22,
+4.90%

climbing 4.7% to $116.42. Those prices fell by 12% and 13% respectively on Wednesday, one day after hitting the highest levels since 2008 as President Joe Biden announced a ban on U.S. imports of Russian energy.

The war between Russian and Ukraine has contributed to soaring commodity costs, and inflation will be in focus on Thursday with the release of February consumer prices, set to reach a four-decade high. That data is due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

“Given the strong increase we observe in energy costs and transportation costs, mostly related to the war in Ukraine, we forecast that inflation could reach double-digits in the U.S. this year,” said the Saxo Bank strategy team, in a note to clients. “Strong inflationary pressures open the door to a first interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve next week.”

Also ahead is real househould wealth and nonfinancial debt for the fourth quarter, due at 1 p.m. Eastern, and the Federal budget deficit at 2 p.m. Eastern.

And the European Central Bank, under particular pressure with a war on its borders, will meet on Thursday.

“The eurozone economy is confronted with a huge stagflation risk – stagnant growth and very high inflation. Uncertainty is so high that the ECB will probably refrain from making any firm monetary policy commitments this afternoon,” said Saxo Bank strategists.

Which companies are in focus?
How are other assets trading?
  • The yield on the 10-year Treasury note
    TMUBMUSD10Y,
    1.941%

    fell 1 basis point to 1.932%. Yields and debt prices move opposite each other.

  • The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, a measure of the currency against a basket of six major rivals, rose 0.3%.

  • Gold futures for April delivery 
    GC00,
    +1.16%

    GCJ22,
    +1.16%

    to settle below $2,000 an ounce, booking its first loss in 5 sessions.

  • Bitcoin
    BTCUSD,
    -6.74%

    was down over 6% to $39,087

  • In European equities, the Stoxx Europe 600 
    SXXP,
    -1.52%
    ,
    while London’s FTSE 100 UKX fell 0.8%.

  • In Asia, the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP rose 1.2%, along with the Hang Seng Index HSI and Japan’s Nikkei 225 NIK surged 3.9%.

Add Comment