Wall Street starts higher as inflation beats forecasts

The main indices on Wall Street were in the green in early trading on Thursday following US inflation and jobs data.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.57% at 34,644 while the S&P 500 climbed 0.38% to 4,235 and the Nasdaq rose 0.18% to 13,937.

The higher start followed higher than expected US inflation, with the consumer price index showing a gain of 5% in May, up from the 4.7% forecast and the 4.2% seen in April. This is the highest level since a 5.4% increase in August 2008.

Core inflation – excluding food and energy – jumped from 3% to 3.8%, the highest level since June 1992. Used cars and trucks were again a big contributor to the increase, up 7.3%.

Meanwhile, weekly jobless claims have fallen, albeit not by as much as expected.

The number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits fell to 376,000 last week, compared to 385,000 the previous week and a forecast of 370,000.

7:50am: Wall Street to open mixed

Wall Street is set for a cautious open ahead of the latest US inflation figures.

The consumer price index is expected to show an annualised rise of 4.7%, up from 4.2% in April and the biggest year-on-year increase since September 2008.

Ahead of the figures the Dow Jones Industrial Average is forecast to open 0.21% or 74 points higher, while the S&P 500 is expected to edge up 0.07% and the Nasdaq Composite is indicated 0.22% lower.

That could all change, however, if inflation comes in higher than anticipated, prompting renewed concerns that the Federal Reserve would have to act to curb the growing pricing pressures.

Sophie Griffiths at Oanda said: “A stronger-than-forecast print today could tip the taper talk dial to sooner rather than later, which could bring stocks lower. US futures are pointing to a mixed start on the US open, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq set to underperform its peers.”

Also due are the weekly jobless claims figures, which are expected to show a fall from 385,000 to 370,000.

And ahead of all that comes the latest European Central Bank meeting.

Three things to watch for on Thursday:

• Companies in the earnings diary include pet food retailer Chewy Inc (NYSE:CHWY), power firm FuelCell Energy Inc (NASDAQ:FCEL) and publishing group John Wiley & Sons Inc (NYSE:JW.A)
• Shares in Reddit darling GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) may draw attention after the video game seller unveiled a new CEO and CFO that it had plucked from Amazon Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) overnight, although many investors will be nervously eyeing an SEC probe into the recent buying frenzy for the shares that the company also disclosed
• Speaking of Amazon, the firm’s may come under focus amid reports it could be facing an investigation by the UK’s competition authorities

Story by ProactiveInvestors