Stock Market News: Dow Set to Open Down Ahead of PCE Inflation Report
Stock futures were slipping on Wednesday as Wall Street waited for the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the final major economic data due before the Thanksgiving holiday.
Futures tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 17 points, or less than 0.1%, and contracts tied to the S&P 500 were down 0.1%. Futures for the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index slid 0.2%.
Both the S&P 500 and Dow had closed at record levels on Tuesday, as investors shrugged off President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threats. The market’s focus will now turn to the October personal consumption expenditures price index, which the Bureau of Economic Analysis is set to publish at 10 a.m. Eastern Time Wednesday.
The PCE is the Fed’s go-to way of measuring inflation, so readings of it can help shape the central bank’s stance on interest rates. Economists are expecting the gauge to tick up 2.3% from a year ago, according to FactSet.
The data come just a day after the Fed published the minutes from its last meeting, which ended on Nov. 7. Policymakers remained confident that inflation was headed toward their 2% annual target and noted that they could cut interest rates again to prop up the U.S. jobs market.
The minutes “leave the door open for another small interest rate cut in December, which helped buoy sentiment,” Hargreaves Lansdown’s head of money and markets Susannah Streeter said. “Members have one eye on weaker jobs numbers and the other on inflationary risks.”
Oil prices ticked up slightly after Israel approved a ceasefire with Lebanon, aimed at ending the conflict with Hezbollah. The Brent international benchmark rose 0.2% to $72.47 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate U.S. crude was up 0.3% to $68.98 a barrel.
Bond yields were roughly unchanged over the past 24 hours. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note was at 4.277%, and 2-year notes were yielding 4.237%.