US stocks trading higher encouraged by lower inflation/softer employment | Forexlive
The US PPI data showed YoY input cost falling to 2.7%. That is good news for CPI down the road, and as Adam points out, the pendulum has swung back to the downside on inflation (read his post here).
The initial jobs claims also supported that argument as it showed weakness as well.
The US stocks are taking the lower growth/inflation news in stride and are mostly higher especially in the NASDAQ stocks as investors tilt toward a soft landing scenario (and lower rates). Of course, things can move the other way if soft moves to hard and the US economy heads into a deeper recession as a result of overly restrictive Fed policy. The Dow Industrial Average is hedging that argument as it trades marginally lower.
The US treasury market is anticipating lower rates from the Fed sooner rather than later. The two year yield is back below the 4% level at 3.905%, down -6.8 basis points on the day. The 10 year is down -4.4 basis points to 3.379%. Both are way below the current Fed funds target which has an upper limit of 5%.
A snapshot of the stock market 10 minutes into the open is showing:
- Dow Industrial Average is trading down marginally at 33639.67
- S&P index is up 11.52 points or 0.28% at 4103.48
- NASDAQ index is up 103.45 points or 0.87% at 12032.79
- Russell 2000 is up 7.518 points or 0.47% at 1781.21
In other markets:
- Gold is trading up $28 or 1.4% at $2042.57. That’s the highest level going back to March 2022
- Silver is trading up $0.37 or 1.49% at $25.84. That’s the highest level since April 2022
- Crude oil is trading just above the $83 level at $83.09 down around $0.17 on the day
- Bitcoin is holding onto the $30,000 level at $30,248. The high price this week reached $30,575 which was the highest level going back to June 2022