Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Ted Shaffrey | AP
Stock futures flickered near the flatline Monday evening as Wall Street braced for the release of key inflation reports.
S&P 500 futures inched down 0.06%, while Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.07%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 17 points, or 0.04%.
The 30-stock Dow posted its first losing session in nine at the end of Monday’s regular trading session, snapping what had been its longest daily win streak since December. The S&P 500 inched lower by 0.02%. The Nasdaq Composite was the outperformer, rising roughly 0.3%.
A report from the New York Federal Reserve showed that consumers’ expectations for inflation over the short and long term grew in April. The results put pressure on the major averages and weighed on stocks.
Another market catalyst will emerge Tuesday morning as the first of two key inflation reports will be released. The producer price index reading for April will be issued at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Economists polled by Dow Jones anticipate that the PPI gained 0.3% from the previous month. The closely watched consumer price index will be out Wednesday, and economists expect that it rose 0.4% in April on a month-over-month basis, or 3.4% from 12 months earlier.
Even with Monday’s muted market action, the major averages remain within striking distance of their highs. Investors have been hopeful since Fed Chair Jerome Powell said earlier this month that the central bank’s next move was “unlikely” to be a rate hike, even amid a recent blast of hot inflation readings in recent months.
“It’s not unusual for Wall Street and Main Street to see the economy differently — the different perspective stems from different points of focus. Stock market movements are based on expectations of future economic performance, not necessarily current conditions,” said Brent Schutte, chief investment officer at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management.
“But while these differing views aren’t unusual, they highlight a potential risk for investors who are betting that rate cuts will come before the economy falters,” he added.
