Stocks End Mixed Yesterday, All Eyes On This Morning's PPI Inflation Report Stocks closed mixed yesterday. It also marks the end of the Dow's 8-day winning streak -- their best streak of the year so far. But the major indexes are still alive on their weekly winning streak with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq up 3 weeks in a row, and the Dow up 4 weeks in a row. And they are all still in the race to add to that streak again this week. Not much in the way of economic reports yesterday. But it picks up today and tomorrow. Today we'll get the Producer Price Index (PPI) inflation report. Last time out, headline inflation rose to 2.1% y/y vs. the previous month's 1.6%, but under estimates for 2.4%. The core rate (ex-food & energy) came in at 2.4%, up from the previous month's 2.0%, and views for 2.3%. But it should be noted that it's still way below peak inflation from two years ago when the core rate was at 8.2%. Nonetheless, all eyes will be on this morning's PPI report. Although, once that's done, it shifts to tomorrow's Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation report. The PPI measures wholesale inflation, while the CPI measures retail inflation. Even though Fed Funds traders aren't expecting rate cuts until September or even November, nothing is set in stone. And the Fed still expects to cut rates 3 times this year (presumably by 25 basis points each). If this week's inflation reports, and subsequent reports, show disinflation picking up again, we could see that timeline shift to sooner rather than later. The PPI report comes out today at 8:30 AM ET. We'll also hear from Fed Chair Jerome Powell this morning as he participates in a moderated discussion with De Nederlandsche Bank President Klaas Knot, at the Annual General Meeting, Foreign Bankers' Association, Amsterdam. In other news, it was a blast from the past when "Roaring Kitty" (the person who essentially started the meme stock craze with GameStop and AMC) resurfaced online yesterday after 3 long years. Both stocks surged with GameStop up by 74%, and AMC up by 78%. Roaring Kitty sent the internet and stocks ablaze in 2021 with his posts on Reddit's WallStreetBets. Yesterday he did the same for those two stocks. Reddit, which is now a publicly traded company, soared by 8.71%. While not as much as the aforementioned meme stocks, Reddit might just be the biggest beneficiary in the long-run as it puts that social media company back in the spotlight. It looks like it'll be a busy week this week, especially with those back-to-back inflation reports. In the meantime, there's plenty going for the market right now. And the big 3 indexes are all within striking distance of their all-time highs. A little bit of good news (or even just the absence of bad news) could propel stocks back to those old highs, and begin the next leg up. See you tomorrow, Kevin Matras Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research |
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