US close: PPI data dampens stocks as investors eye Fed meeting

(Sharecast News) - US stocks finished with moderate losses on Thursday after another round of inflation statistics surprised to the upside, clouding the outlook for interest rates in the near term. The Dow finished 0.4% lower while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both fell 0.3%, while 10-year US Treasury yields surged from 4.191% to 4.297%.

February's US producer price index advanced 0.6% last month, double the increase economists had been expecting, while the year-on-year change picked up to 1.6% from 1.0% previously.

The data came ahead of the Federal Reserve's next monetary policy meeting on 19 and 20 March and followed a hotter-than-expected reading of US consumer price inflation earlier in the week.

"Today's stronger PPI readings in the US couple with the CPI figures earlier in the week to suggest the Fed's tone next week might not be quite what investors were hoping for," said Chris Beauchamp, market analyst at IG.

Matthew Martin, US economist at Oxford Economics, said the two releases "reduce our subjective odds that the Fed will begin its easing cycle at the May Federal Open Market Committee meeting, as is the case in our baseline."

However, he added: "With broader evidence of decelerating wage growth and further disinflation in the pipeline from market rents, we still believe the Fed will begin cutting rates around mid-year."

In other macro news, jobless claims dipped unexpectedly last week. According to the Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms the number of initial unemployment claims slipped by 1,000 over the week ending on 9 March to 209,000. Economists had anticipated a rise to 218,000.

Meanwhile, the Department of Commerce reported that retail sales volumes grew 0.6% in January to reach $700.7bn in seasonally adjusted terms. Economists had pencilled-in an increase of 0.8%.

Market movers

Shares in American steel producer US Steel was under pressure on Thursday after president Joe Biden said he's opposed to its $14.9bn takeover by Japan's Nippon Steel. In prepared remarks, Biden said that is "vital" for an American steel company to be domestically owned and operated.

Under Armour tanked 11% after investors gave a negative reaction to the news that founder Kevin Plank was returning o become chief executive, having stepped aside as CEO to be the company's chair since 2019. This will be the third CEO change in just five years.

Dick's Sporting Goods jumped 15% after bumper holiday season trading beat expectations. The retailer said fourth-quarter net sales jumped 7.8% to $3.88bn - its largest-ever sales quarter - while net income rose 26% to $296m and earnings per diluted share increased 31% to $3.85.

Dow Jones - Risers

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $425.22 2.44% Chevron Corp. (CVX) $155.70 1.18% Apple Inc. (AAPL) $173.00 1.09% Visa Inc. (V) $286.41 0.45% Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $489.00 0.20% Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $341.92 0.12% Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $0.00 0.00% Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $112.06 -0.39% McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $281.80 -0.40% Walmart Inc. (WMT) $61.04 -0.42%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $20.62 -2.04% JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $187.98 -1.78% International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $193.43 -1.66% Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $271.54 -1.61% Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $120.57 -1.35% Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $39.77 -1.22% Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $159.12 -1.17% Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $57.32 -1.12% Intel Corp. (INTC) $42.75 -1.11% Nike Inc. (NKE) $100.29 -1.09%

S&P 500 - Risers

FMC Technologies Inc. (FTI) $24.04 3.49% Halliburton Co. (HAL) $37.49 2.96% Macy's Inc. (M) $21.50 2.63% Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG) $144.34 2.54% Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $425.22 2.44% Alphabet Inc. Class A (GOOGL) $143.10 2.37% Westrock Company (WRK) $47.94 2.20% Altria Group Inc. (MO) $44.28 2.15% Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (PXD) $250.47 1.93% ConocoPhillips (COP) $119.78 1.90%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Under Armour Inc. Class A (UAA) $7.23 -10.74% Under Armour, Inc. (UA) $6.99 -10.15% Lennar Corp. Class A (LEN) $152.74 -7.64% VF Corp. (VFC) $14.60 -5.81% Dollar General Corp (DG) $150.06 -5.13% Albemarle Corp. (ALB) $119.89 -4.69% Comerica Inc. (CMA) $49.28 -4.66% Mattel Inc. (MAT) $19.27 -4.60% Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) $24.83 -4.58% AES Corp. (AES) $15.03 -4.57%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG) $144.34 2.54% Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $425.22 2.44% Alphabet Inc. Class A (GOOGL) $143.10 2.37% O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $1,116.90 1.41% Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $178.75 1.24% Apple Inc. (AAPL) $173.00 1.09% Cintas Corp. (CTAS) $629.70 1.03% Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $166.28 0.90% Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $63.00 0.88% Workday, Inc. (WDAY) $272.04 0.86%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $1.19 -6.30% Tesla Inc (TSLA) $162.50 -4.12% Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $128.10 -3.52% JD.com, Inc. (JD) $27.05 -3.43% DENTSPLY Sirona Inc. (XRAY) $32.98 -3.37% Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $85.76 -3.28% Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $879.44 -3.24% Biogen Inc (BIIB) $219.62 -3.06% Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $104.64 -3.01% Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $91.43 -2.90%