US stock futures were little changed on Thursday as investors looked ahead to several economic reports due to be released in the morning.
Futures related to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 14 points, or less than 0.1%. S&P 500 futures were down 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 0.2%.
Retail sales, import prices and unemployment claims, as well as the Philadelphia Fed’s manufacturing survey and the Empire State Manufacturing Survey are due at 8:30 AM ET. These reports will come after Wednesday Product Price Index Report It showed a decline in wholesale prices of 0.1% in August.
Wall Street is emerging from a volatile session in which the major averages posted modest gains. On Wednesday, the Dow closed slightly higher, by 30 points, after dropping more than 200 points at one point. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.7%.
Stocks sought stability after a hotter-than-expected inflation report on Tuesday sent them tumbling to post their worst day since 2020. Consumer Price Index Report Headline inflation showed a rise of 0.1% m/m, despite lower gas prices.
“It’s hard to extrapolate to one-day events,” Jeff Degraaf, founder and chairman of Renaissance Macro Research, said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime.” “It’s one of those extreme events that has no follow-up and tends to be good news rather than bad.”
He added, “Inflation is really a dark cloud over stocks, but I think it’s really important for people to keep in mind that it’s not about the good and the bad in the markets, it’s about the best and the worst, and inflation seems to be getting better.”
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