US open: Stocks trade lower following hotter-than-expected PPI reading

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street stocks were in the red early on Thursday as investors digested a hotter-than-expected wholesale inflation reading. As of 1535 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.29% at 38,928.89, while the S&P 500 lost 0.35% to 5,147.08 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.22% weaker at 16,142.04.

The Dow opened 114.43 points lower on Thursday, more than reversing gains recorded the previous session.

Thursday's primary focus was Ferbuary's producer price index, a measure of wholesale inflation, which advanced 0.6% last month - double what economists had been expecting to see. The PPI report marks the last major piece of macro data to be released ahead of the Federal Reserve's next monetary policy meeting on 19 and 20 March.

Elsewhere, retail sales in the grew less than expected last month, according to the Department of Commerce, which said retail sales volumes grew at a 0.6% month-on-month pace in January to reach $700.7bn in seasonally adjusted terms. Economists had pencilled-in an increase of 0.8%. Excluding automobiles, retail sales were up by 0.3% on the month (consensus: 0.5%). January's decline in retail sales was revised down from an initial estimate of -0.8% to -1.1%.

On another note, first-time unemployment claims dipped unexpectedly in the week ended 9 March, according to the Department of Labor, slipping by 1,000 to reach 209,000. Economists had anticipated a rise to 218,000. The four-week moving average on the other hand, which aims to smooth out the variations in the data from one week to the next, declined by 500 to 208,000, while secondary claims, which are those not being filed for the first time and referencing the week ended 2 March, were up by 17,000 to 1.81m.

In the corporate space, Robinhood traded higher on the back of a 16% month-on-month jump in assets under custody, while Fisker was firmly in the red following a Wall Street Journal report that the company had hired restructuring advisors in preparation for a potential bankruptcy filing.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $427.18 2.91% Apple Inc. (AAPL) $173.91 1.62% Visa Inc. (V) $287.59 0.86% Boeing Co. (BA) $183.01 0.36% Chevron Corp. (CVX) $154.27 0.25% Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $305.33 0.21% Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $342.24 0.21% Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $488.77 0.16% Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $0.00 0.00% 3M Co. (MMM) $103.65 -0.40%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $110.01 -2.21% Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $20.61 -2.09% Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $120.13 -1.66% Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $39.63 -1.56% Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $57.11 -1.48% Home Depot Inc. (HD) $374.25 -1.25% JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $189.20 -1.14% Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $272.87 -1.13% Walmart Inc. (WMT) $60.69 -0.96% McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $280.25 -0.92%

S&P 500 - Risers

FMC Technologies Inc. (FTI) $24.08 3.64% Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $427.18 2.91% Macy's Inc. (M) $21.49 2.55% Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG) $143.88 2.21% Alphabet Inc. Class A (GOOGL) $142.56 1.98% Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) $2,769.20 1.71% Halliburton Co. (HAL) $37.15 1.68% Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) $53.46 1.68% Apple Inc. (AAPL) $173.91 1.62% NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) $63.41 1.55%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Under Armour Inc. Class A (UAA) $7.09 -12.53% Under Armour, Inc. (UA) $6.95 -10.67% Dollar General Corp (DG) $149.74 -5.33% Lennar Corp. Class A (LEN) $157.15 -5.05% Sl Green Realty Corp. (SLG) $48.60 -4.99% Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) $24.83 -4.54% AES Corp. (AES) $15.10 -4.16% VF Corp. (VFC) $14.87 -4.07% Crown Castle International (CCI) $105.88 -3.82% PulteGroup Inc. (PHM) $110.14 -3.62%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $427.18 2.91% Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG) $143.88 2.21% Alphabet Inc. Class A (GOOGL) $142.56 1.98% Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $1,576.12 1.64% Apple Inc. (AAPL) $173.91 1.62% Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $167.37 1.56% Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $179.01 1.39% KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $697.87 1.33% Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $63.28 1.33% Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG) $3,517.32 0.49%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $1.22 -3.94% JD.com, Inc. (JD) $26.97 -3.71% Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $104.36 -3.27% Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $881.96 -2.96% Tesla Inc (TSLA) $164.78 -2.77% Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) $42.13 -2.65% DENTSPLY Sirona Inc. (XRAY) $33.28 -2.51% Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $16.76 -2.50% Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $17.50 -2.48% Skyworks Solutions Inc. (SWKS) $104.95 -2.26%