Stock market news live updates: Futures fall as inflation rises by most since 1982, Apple gains after earnings
Stock futures dipped Friday morning as investors took in earnings results from some major tech companies and another hot print on inflation at the end of another volatile week.
Contracts on the S&P 500 fell. Dow futures also declined, even as component stock Apple (AAPL) jumped after the iPhone-maker reported record quarterly sales and better-than-expected profits despite supply chain challenges. Meanwhile, Robinhood (HOOD) shares sank after the trading platform missed on quarterly revenue, posted a larger-than-expected quarterly decline in users, and offered disappointing guidance.
Fresh economic data was also in focus on Friday. The latest inflation data showed another multi-decade high rate of price increases, as the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index posted a 5.8% year-over-year rise in December, or the biggest jump since 1982. Core PCE, which excludes more volatile food and energy prices, rose at a 4.9% annual rate, representing the largest leap since 1983.
The S&P 500 was on track to post a weekly loss of about 1.3%, based on Thursday’s closing prices. New reports showing a better-than-expected rise in fourth-quarter U.S. GDP and improvement in weekly jobless claims did little to help turn stocks around on Thursday. The Dow and Nasdaq have each also fallen over the course of the past week, with volatility rising as traders considered the implications of the Federal Reserve’s more hawkish monetary policy tilt for markets.
“The markets digested this hawkish Fed pivot that I think surprised people in terms of its magnitude,” Scott Crowe, CenterSquare Investment Management chief investment strategist, told Yahoo Finance Live on Thursday. “It wasn’t so long ago that they were describing inflation as ‘transitory,’ but now they have their sights firmly set on moderating inflation. And I think that’s given the market a lot of indigestion as it starts to digest that pretty dramatic shift.”
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell strongly signaled earlier this week that a March liftoff on interest rates to above their present near-zero levels was in the cards. However, other questions remained — namely around just how quickly the Fed will raise interest rates, and around when and how rapidly the Fed will begin drawing down its nearly $9 trillion balance sheet and tightening financial conditions.
“Everything the Fed is doing at this point we think has just been priced in over the last few weeks. And that’s where a lot of the slide in the market has come from,” Morgan Stanley Managing Director Kathy Entwistle told Yahoo Finance Live on Thursday. “And the big question is, will we slide a little bit more? What’s happening?”
“We’re looking at companies and their earnings … to determine whether or not we’re going to have a little bit more of a pullback in the market or not,” she added. “And that’s based on what they can do going forward, where their opportunities are. And we’ve been hearing a lot about inflation. If you think about a 7% inflation rate, that’s quite significant.”
“Back in the fall, it was the retail investor that was holding up the market,” Entwistle said. “And now, their sentiments have sort of turned and they’re no longer optimistic about where we are right now. So I think we have to think about all of these things. We do think that the quality, again, is going to do better than growth.”
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8:37 a.m. ET: Personal income posts disappointing rise in December as spending dips
U.S. personal income rose at a lackluster pace in December, logging the smallest gain since September as pandemic-era government assistance programs waned.
Personal income rose at a 0.3% month-on-month rate in December, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Friday, missing estimates for a 0.5% rise, according to Bloomberg consensus data. Income had risen 0.5% in November.
Personal spending fell 0.6% during the month, matching consensus estimates. This came marked the first drop since February 2021, and came following a 0.4% rise in. spending in November.
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8:30 a.m. ET: Personal Consumption Expenditures jump 5.8% in December, marking fastest rise since 1982
A key measure of inflation rose at a fresh four-decade high in December, underscoring lingering inflationary pressures in the economy.
The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index rose 5.8% in December compared to the same month last year, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Friday. This accelerated from November’s 5.7% year-over-year. gain. The print for the final month of 2021 matched consensus estimates, based on Bloomberg data. Month-over-month, PCE rose 0.4% in December, also matching estimates and slowing from November’s 0.6% gain.
Excluding food and energy prices, however, the core PCE rose slightly more than expected, logging a 4.9% year-over-year rise versus the 4.8% increase consensus economists had anticipated. This also sped up from November’s 4.7% rise in core PCE. Core PCE serves as the Federal Reserve’s preferred indicator of underlying price trends.
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7:16 a.m. ET Friday: Stock futures trade mixed, Apple holds onto overnight gains
Here’s where stocks were trading before the opening bell Friday morning:
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S&P 500 futures (ES=F): -14 points (-0.32%), to 4,303.75
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Dow futures (YM=F): -144.00 points (-0.42%), to 33,899.00
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Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): +5.75 points (+0.04%) to 13,992.50
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Crude (CL=F): +$0.72 (+0.83%) to $87.33 a barrel
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Gold (GC=F): -$8.30 (-0.46%) to $1,786.70 per ounce
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10-year Treasury (^TNX): +3.8 bps to yield 1.846%
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6:15 p.m. ET Thursday: Stock futures jump after Apple earnings
Here’s where futures began trading Thursday evening:
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S&P 500 futures (ES=F): +30 points (+0.69%), to 4,347.75
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Dow futures (YM=F): +169 points (+0.5%), to 34,212.00
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Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): +169 points (+1.21%) to 14,155.75
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Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter
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