US Stock Index Futures Rise Slightly After Declines in PPI: Market Update

Investing.com – Before the market opened on Thursday (4th), U.S. stock index futures rose slightly from their earlier lows, after previously reported monthly declines in overall and core PPI. In March, the overall PPI dropped sharply from 0.6% to 0.2%, lower than the expected 0.3% and the lowest level this year. The core PPI monthly rate also fell from 0.3% to 0.2%, in line with expectations.

However, the overall PPI annual rate rose from 1.6% to 2.1%, but still lower than the expected 2.2%; the core PPI annual rate rose from 2.1% to 2.4%, slightly higher than the expected 2.3%.

Compared with yesterday’s CPI, production-end inflation showed a month-on-month cooling trend and did not appear to be one-sided and unexpected. This gave the market some comfort, but it may not be enough to turn things around.

After the data was released, U.S. stock index futures rose, but the gains were limited and failed to lead bulls to gain the upper hand.

At the same time, the cloud that CPI exceeded expectations across the board continued to hang over the market, also affecting the views of Federal Reserve officials. New York Fed President Williams acknowledged today that the outlook is uncertain, inflation will continue to fluctuate, and the Fed must rely on data. However, he still expects a rate cut this year,

stocks before market opening

Nike (NYSE: ) rose 1.4% and will release new Olympic equipment for Olympic athletes from the United States and other countries.

Biotech company Alpine Immune Sciences (NASDAQ: ) rose more than 36% after Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ) said it would acquire Alpine Immune Sciences for about $4.9 billion in cash to obtain drugs for renal autoimmune diseases.

CarMax (NYSE: ) shares fell 9.1% after fourth-quarter profit fell as average profit margin per vehicle fell.

Amazon (NASDAQ: ) fell 0.4% after Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy said it has cut staff across multiple divisions in recent months while continuing to look for opportunities to reduce its execution costs.

Robinhood (NASDAQ: ) fell 3.6% after Citigroup downgraded the company to sell from neutral, citing continued correlation with the stock despite improving fundamentals.

Regeneron (NASDAQ: ) fell 1% after the U.S. Department of Justice accused the company of fraud in its vision drug Eylea.

Rent the Runway (NASDAQ:), a clothing rental company, rose 30%. Its losses narrowed compared with a year ago and its user retention rate was moderate.

Industrial distributor Fastenal (NASDAQ: ) fell 5.6% after disappointing first-quarter earnings. Chief Executive Dan Florness said the core problem remains poor demand.

U.S. lithium miner Albemarle (NYSE: ) rose 1.1% after Berenberg upgraded the company to buy from hold, citing rising lithium production and an upward trend in lithium prices that would eliminate the need to seek additional equity financing in the near term.

Tesla (NASDAQ: ) rose 0.32%.

Apple (NASDAQ:)%, NVIDIA (NASDAQ:), Microsoft (NASDAQ:), Amazon (NASDAQ:), Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:), and Facebook parent company Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:) all edged up less than 1 %.

Chinese concept stocks

The China Internet ETF KraneShares CSI China Internet (NYSE: ) rose 1.2%.

NIO (NYSE:) (HK:) rose 0.3%, Li Auto (NASDAQ:) (HK:) fell 0.4%, and Xpeng Motors (NYSE:) (HK:) fell 0.3%.

Bilibili (NASDAQ:) (HK:) rose 3.3%, iQiyi (NASDAQ:) rose 0.9%, and Huya (NYSE:) rose 0.2%.

Alibaba (NYSE:) (HK:) rose 1.1%, JD.com (NASDAQ:) (HK:) rose 1%, and Pinduoduo (NASDAQ:) rose 0.8%.

Baidu (NASDAQ:) (HK:) rose 0.7%. NetEase (NASDAQ:) (HK:) fell 1%.

other markets

European stocks were mixed.

Asia-Pacific stock markets were mixed. It rose slightly by 0.23%, fell slightly by 0.26%, and was basically the same.

fell slightly after the announcement of PPI, with the US dollar index still remaining above the 105 mark.

Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields fell back but remained above 4.5%.

Comex, the New York Mercantile Futures Exchange, prices rose temporarily.

down about 0.5%.

financial report

開市前：Constellation Brands Inc Class A (NYSE:)， The Lovesac Company (NASDAQ:)，Conns (NASDAQ:)。

For all today’s financial reports, please visit Investing.comEarnings Calendar。

Economic data and events

20:30 Hong Kong time (08:30 AM ET)

and

and

20:45 Hong Kong time (08:45 AM ET)

00:00 am the next day Hong Kong time (12:00 noon US Eastern time)

01:30 a.m. the next day Hong Kong time (13:30 U.S. Eastern time)

For more economic information, please visit Investing.comfinancial calendar。

***

Afraid of stock prices plummeting? ProPicks outperformed the S&P strategy and successfully avoided Humana’s 13% plunge on April 2!

every dayless than3AI helps you select stocks and learn more about strategies to beat the S&P: