US STOCKS-Wall Street slides as hot producer price data crimps rate cut bets

Vulcan Materials Co

16/02/2024 21:21

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      Rising services costs boost US producer inflation in Jan
    

        * 
      Roku slides on forecasting bigger first-quarter loss
    

        * 
      Coinbase surges after first profit in 2 years
    

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      Indexes down: S&P 500 0.48%, Dow 0.38%, Nasdaq 0.82%
    

  
 (Adds market details after close of trading, weekly figures,
volume and advancing declining issues)
    By Carolina Mandl, Amruta Khandekar and Ankika Biswas
       Feb 16 (Reuters) - 
    U.S. stocks fell on Friday with the Nasdaq showing the
largest decline after a hotter-than-expected producer prices
report eroded hopes for imminent interest rate cuts by the
Federal Reserve.
    A Labor Department report showed producer prices increased
more than expected in January, feeding fears inflation was
picking up after months of cooling. After five consecutive weeks
of gains, all three indexes posted a weekly decline.

    The data could encourage the Fed to wait before cutting
rates. Earlier this week, a hot consumer prices report sparked a
selloff in equity markets although a slump in January retail
sales on Thursday stoked hopes of rate cuts.
    "The inflation data this week are definitely going to keep
the Fed at least on pause until summer," said Carol Schleif,
chief investment officer at BMO family office. "Data is bumpy,
it's not a straight line." 
        Treasury yields spiked after the report as traders added
to bets the Fed may defer the first rate cut until after June.
    "The theme of higher for longer is really the continuing
market narrative" for interest rates, said Greg Bassuk, Chief
Executive Officer at AXS Investments.
    Two Fed officials expressed caution. Atlanta Fed President
Raphael Bostic said he needed more evidence inflation pressures
are easing, but is open to lowering rates at some point in the
next few months. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said
"there is more work to do" to ensure stable prices, despite
remarkable progress.
        The S&P 500  .SPX  lost 24.18 points, or 0.49%, to end
at 5,005.15 points, while the Nasdaq Composite
 .IXIC  lost 132.38 points, or 0.83%, to 15,775.65. The Dow
Jones Industrial Average  .DJI  fell 149.48 points, or 0.39%, to
38,623.64.
  
    Most megacap stocks dropped, with Meta Platforms  META.O 
falling 2.2% and dragging the S&P 500 communication services
 .SPLRCL  index down 1.56%.
    The S&P 500 closed above 5,000 for the fourth time this year
thanks to robust corporate earnings and surging enthusiasm
around artificial intelligence.
        Applied Materials  AMAT.O  jumped 6.4% after the
semiconductor equipment supplier forecast better-than-expected
second-quarter revenue on strong demand for advanced chips used
in AI.
    Vulcan Materials  VMC.N  gained 5,2% after forecasting a
higher full-year profit, aiding a rise in the S&P 500 materials
sector index  .SPLRCM .
    Roku  ROKU.O  slumped 23.8% after forecasting a bigger
first-quarter loss, while crypto exchange Coinbase Global
 COIN.O  jumped 8.8% on posting its first quarterly profit since
2021.
    DoorDash  DASH.O  dropped 8.1% as the delivery firm forecast
a quarterly profitability metric below expectations, hurt by
higher labor costs.
    Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.7-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE, while on Nasdaq declining issues outnumbered
advancers by a 1.6-to-1 ratio.
        The S&P 500 posted 63 new 52-week highs and 3 new lows
while the Nasdaq recorded 225 new highs and 66 new lows.
  
        On U.S. exchanges 11.18 billion shares changed hands
compared with the 11.65 billion moving average for the last 20
sessions.
  

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Monthly change in US Producer Price Index    https://reut.rs/3SX7WUp
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 (Reporting by Carolina Mandl, in New York, Amruta Khandekar and
Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel, Chizu
Nomiyama and David Gregorio)
 ((Amruta.Khandekar@thomsonreuters.com))