Stocks Ended Lower Yesterday, CPI Inflation Report On Tap For This Morning  Image: Shutterstock Stocks closed mostly lower yesterday in uneven trade. The Nasdaq was the biggest decliner giving up -1.04%, followed by the S&P 500 with -0.57%. The Dow, however, barely finished in the red giving up just -0.05%, while the small-cap Russell 2000 eked out a small gain of 0.01%, and the mid-cap S&P 400 gained 0.03%. All eyes were on Apple yesterday as they announced their new iPhone 15 and Apple Watch. Great presentation as always. The iPhone will see a price increase, but it looks like it will only be $100 more for the 15 Pro Max version vs. the 14. Apple will also be using the new USB-C charger, which means customers will be shelling out extra for that. Apple was down -1.71% on the day. Although, they usually are down on the day of the announcement. But they are typically up between their announcement and release date, and higher 1 month after the release. Apple will begin taking pre-orders on 9/15 and be available starting 9/22. We will see if those stats follow suit again this time. But there are some new challenges out there this time, including the fact that they are coming off of 3 quarters in a row of declining revenue, with iPhone sales declining for the last 2 quarters in a row. Add in reports that China will ban government officials from using iPhones for work, or even bringing them into the office, and that further complicates things. The market will turn its attention to today's Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation report. Last month's report showed headline inflation coming in slightly better than expected at 3.2% y/y vs. expectations for 3.3%. Although, that was up from the previous month's 3.0%. The core rate (ex-food & energy), ticked down to 4.7% y/y vs. the previous month's 4.8% and views for the same. Today's report is expected to show headline inflation up 0.6% m/m vs. last month's pace of 0.2%, with the y/y rate at 3.6%, up from last month's 3.2%. The core rate is expected to be up 0.2% m/m, in line with last month's pace, while the y/y rate is expected to decline to 4.3% vs. last month's 4.7%. That comes out at 8:30 AM ET. Tomorrow we'll get another look at inflation with the Producer Price Index (PPI) inflation report. But first things first. Let's get thru today's CPI report. Also today, we'll get the Atlanta Fed Business Inflation Expectations report, and MBA Mortgage Applications. Should be another busy day. See you tomorrow,  Kevin Matras
Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research | 
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