Nasdaq, S&P 500 futures are falling ahead of September’s Consumer Price Index (CPI)

Nasdaq, S&P 500 futures are falling ahead of September’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) data release, while Tesla is in the spotlight ahead of a robotaxi event.

Strategists provide stock investment advice tailored to the trade policies of presidential candidates.

Index futures are edging lower in futures trading on Thursday morning as the release of the September consumer price growth report looms, with market sentiment remaining somewhat cautious.

Traders need to keep an eye on September’s consumer price growth report and weekly jobless claims data, all of which are important indicators related to interest rates.

Inflation data is widely expected to confirm a continued decline, with unemployment claims likely up slightly in the latest week.

China has announced stimulus measures to support the domestic stock market, which has pushed stocks in the mainland and Hong Kong higher.

Crude oil and gold, on the other hand, weakened, while Treasury yields edged higher.

Traders are also likely to focus on the fallout from Hurricane Milton and tensions in the Middle East.

gift performance

• Nasdaq 100: -0.15%
• S&P 500: -0.12%
• Dow: -0.09%
• Russell 2000: -0.24%

Key flows from the previous session:

Strong IT, financial, industrial and healthcare stocks set new records Wednesday for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500.

The S&P 500 hit a new intraday high, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also rose to its highest level since July 16.

Even as Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida, the stock market almost ignored it, and also digested comments from Fed officials and information from Fed minutes.

Of the S&P 500 sectors, only communications services and utility stocks were bearish.

Key Index Performance:

• Nasdaq Composite: +0.60% (18,291.62)
• S&P 500 Index: +0.71% (5,792.04)
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: +1.03% (42,512.00)
• Russell 2000: +0.26% (2,200.59)

Analyst’s Opinion:

On Wednesday, Morgan Stanley’s strategist evaluated the impact of the two presidential candidates’ trade policies.

“Trade policy is one of the areas of policy that will be most sensitive to presidential election results,” said Monica Guerra, head of policy at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.

The impact of tariffs on the economy could be far-reaching, putting pressure on consumers and affecting growth, inflation and stock market performance, it said.

Vice President Kamala Harris’s trade policy appears to continue President Joe Biden’s, but remains opaque, creating uncertainty for investors,

Republican candidate Donald Trump, on the other hand, has proposed higher tariffs on China and introducing universal tariffs, which he said could increase productivity, growth pressures and inflationary pressures.

She recommended easing the impact of tariffs, considering defensive sectors such as consumer goods, healthcare and utilities, and certain retailers less dependent on overseas production.

Future Economic Data:

• The Labor Department will release its weekly jobless claims report at 8:30 a.m. EDT.

Economists expect unemployment claims to reach 230,000 in the week ending Oct. 5, up from 225,000 in the previous week.

• The September Consumer Price Index (CPI) report is released at the same time, with headline figures expected to rise 0.1% month-on-month, down slightly from a 0.2% increase in August.

CPI annual growth is expected to slow to 2.3% from 2.5%.

The monthly and annual core CPI rates for September are expected to be 0.2% and 3.2%, respectively, compared with 0.3% and 3.2% for August.

• Fed speakers include Fed Director Lisa Cook at 9:15 a.m., Chicago Fed President Austin Gouldsby at 10 a.m., Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin at 10:30 a.m., and New York Fed President John Williams at 11 a.m.
• Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) rose more than 1% ahead of the robotaxi event.

Commodity, Bond, and Global Stock Market:

Oil futures surged ahead of the release of inflation data, while gold futures edged higher.

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is down about 2% over the past 24 hours, falling below $61K.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose 1.5 points to 4.082%.

Most major Asian markets rose on Wall Street’s positive close.

Markets in China and Hong Kong were the biggest gainers in the region after the People’s Bank of China announced new stimulus measures to support the stock market.

European stock markets, on the other hand, lost ground in early trading.

6:49 AM EDT, October 10, 2024 (Benzinga Newswire)