Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., March 13, 2024.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
U.S. stock futures inched higher on Wednesday night as traders looked ahead to another inflation reading.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 32 points, or less than 0.1%. S&P 500 futures advanced 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.2%.
In after-hours action, trading platform Robinhood popped 10% after the company reported a 16% increase in assets under custody in February from the prior month. Troubled electric vehicle startup Fisker tumbled 46% after The Wall Street Journal reported that the company has hired restructuring advisors to prepare for a potential bankruptcy filing.
These moves come after the major stock indexes ended Wednesday’s session with mixed activity.
A sharp decline in the technology sector — particularly as Nvidia dropped 1.1% — pulled the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite lower, with the two benchmarks slipping 0.19% and 0.54%, respectively. The 30-stock Dow, on the other hand, added 0.10%.
Investors are watching out for February’s producer price index, due Thursday morning before the bell. The metric is a measurement of wholesale inflation. Economists polled by Dow Jones anticipate that headline PPI grew by 0.3% in February, or 0.2% when excluding food and energy prices.
The PPI report is the last major piece of economic data to be released prior to the Federal Reserve’s upcoming policy meeting, set for March 19-20.
The bigger market theme right now is the sell-off in the technology sector, according to Jay Woods, the chief global strategist of Freedom Capital Markets. Just two stocks in the Magnificent Seven cohort ended Wednesday higher — Alphabet and Amazon. At the same time, seven of the 11 S&P sectors ended the day on a positive note, with energy and materials leading the way.
“The market has been able to withstand the lack of technology leadership and has broadened out. The Magnificent Seven story is over, thankfully,” said Woods.
The strategist noted Apple and Tesla have continued to fall amid weakened sales in the China market and a lack of artificial intelligence-adjacent incentives. Meanwhile, the House’s recently passed bill — which could lead to a TikTok ban — may have larger ramifications both within the broader tech sector and in Chinese-linked equities.
On Thursday, investors will also be watching for the weekly jobless claims report and retail sales. Both data releases are due before the opening bell.
