U.S. stocks opened higher on Thursday but quickly curled up. The hotter-than-expected headline inflation served as one of the last pieces of data that could sway the Federal Reserve at its policy meeting next week.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell 0.4%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) shed 0.3%, or 100 points.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 ( ^IXIC ) fell 0.4% on Wednesday after dragging shares of Nvidia ( NVDA ) and Tesla ( TSLA ) .
The February producer price index rose 0.6%, beating expectations for a 0.3% increase. Investors were watching for inflation to cool fast enough to appease central bank policymakers and announce interest rate cuts. Markets played down signs of sticky inflation in Tuesday's CPI report, clinging to hopes that policy will take center stage in the summer.
Retail sales meanwhile rose 0.6%, missing estimates for a 0.8% rise. All eyes were on Thursday's data release for clues on the health of the US economy ahead of the central bank's two-day meeting next week.
In commodities, oil's revived rally continued to build after the IEA warned that supply would lag this year and US inventories would shrink. WTI crude futures (CL=F) traded above $80 a barrel, touching their highest level since November, while Brent crude futures (BZ=F) pushed towards $85.
On the corporate front, shares of Fisker (FSR) fell nearly 40% after the Wall Street Journal reported that the EV maker was considering a bankruptcy filing.
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