The CPI rose 0.5% in January, higher than Wall Street expectations
Investors are all over the hotter-than-expected inflation reading for January this morning. The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.5% for the month, compared to analysts' estimates of a 0.4% rise, bringing the annual gain to 6.4%. This reading may dictate the Federal Reserve's next moves, as the central bank remains committed to the disinflation process. Stock futures are all over the place in response, with Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures last seen slightly higher, while Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) and S&P 500 Index (SPX) futures are flat.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.1 million call contracts and 679,385 put contracts traded on Monday. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.60 and the 21-day moving average fell to 0.79.
- Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO) is up 0.8% in premarket trading, after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue, while profits were in line with estimates. An upbeat annual profit forecast is giving shares a boost as well. KO has shed 8.1% in the last nine months.
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Evercore ISI downgraded
First Solar Inc (NASDAQ:FSLR) to "in line" from "outperform," with the analyst in question noting much of the upside the stock seems to be
already priced in. FSLR is down 2% ahead of the open, but still maintains a whopping 141.3% year-over-year lead.
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The shares of
Palo Alto Networks Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) are up 1% before the bell, after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on the cybersecurity company with a "buy" rating. The brokerage predicted upside of over 20%, and praised the company for being
ahead of the competition in key areas. So far in 2023, PANW has already added 19.2%.
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Today also brings the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) small-business index.
Asian, European Markets Mostly Higher
Asian stocks settled mostly higher on Tuesday, with the exception of Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, which finished with a 0.2% drop. Japan’s Nikkei added 0.6%, amid economic data showing its economy expanded 0.6% on an annual basis in the fourth quarter, which is lower than the expected 2%. Reuters also reported that Kazuo Ueda has been nominated as the new governor of the Bank of Japan (BoJ). China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.3%, while the South Korean Kospi tacked on 0.5%.
European markets are higher midday, as investors await inflation data from several countries, including the U.S. London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.3%, after unemployment in the U.K. stayed at 3.7% in the quarter ending in December. The French CAC 40 and German DAX are both up 0.4%.