SPX: S&P 500 Logs 0.3% Loss as Investors Flee from Risk Assets Amid Rising Inflation

Producer prices advanced more than expected, casting a shadow over the Fed’s rate-cut path.

Key Points:

• S&P 500 moves 0.5% away from record.
• Producer prices leap 0.6% in February.
• Futures float under the flatline Friday.
• The S&P 500 (SPX) fell 0.3% on Thursday after another hot price report added to pressures that inflation may not be walking away. Producer prices, a gauge of inflation for the wholesale industry, jumped 0.6% in February. The figure was double the estimates from economists and bumped the 12-month rate to 1.6%, hitting a high last seen in September 2023.
• The surprise leap posted a threat to investors who retreated across the board in fear that risk assets, such as stocks, could get knocked by a potential delay in the Fed’s rate path. The Federal Reserve has previously said they need more data before dialing back interest rates from their 23-year high. Fed Chair Jay Powell and his central banking squad are meeting next week.
• Against that backdrop, the S&P 500 is now down 0.5% from its record close just three days ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 0.4% in Thursday’s trading and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite erased 0.3%. Futures on Friday were floating in the red as market participants were waking up to a day with no big news on deck, meaning it’s time to pull up the charts for some hot technical analysis.