Stock Futures Pivot Lower After Inflation Reading

Stock futures are pointed lower before the bell this morning, moving below fair value after the release of highly-anticipated inflation data. December's consumer price index (CPI) showed a 0.3% monthly increase and 3.4% year-over-year rise in consumer prices, both a bit higher than analysts' expected 0.2% and 3.2%, respectively.

The hotter-than-expected report adds fuel to the Fed's 'higher for longer' interest rate narrative, and pours cold water on the end-of-year stock market rally on the hopes of rate cuts in March.  Elsewhere, U.S. jobless claims came in at 202,000, the lowest level since mid October. 

Continue reading for more on today's market, including: 

• Signal says target this tech stock. 
• Take advantage of the artificial intelligence boom with UiPath.
• Plus, two stocks moving on analyst notes; and KBH brushes off earnings beat. 

futures

5 Things You Need to Know Today

1. The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.1 million call contracts and over 1.8 million put contracts traded on Wednesday. The single-session equity put/call ratio jumped to 1.55, and the 21-day moving average rose to 0.70. 
2. Lyft Inc (NASDAQ:LYFT) stock is down 0.7% before the bell, after a downgrade from Goldman Sachs to "neutral" from "buy," though the firm also added a price-target hike to $15 from $12. Since the start of the year, the rideshare name is already down 11%. 
3. Chewy Inc (NYSE:CHWY) stock has pared its greater premarket gains, though still up 0.6%, after Barclays upgraded the pet retailer to "overweight" from "equal-weight," with a price-target hike to $30 from $19. Over the past year, CHWY is down 51.4%. 
4. Homebuilding stock KB Home (NYSE:KBH) is down 3.3% in electronic trading, despite strong fourth-quarter earnings results, after also announcing a 4.5% decline in average home selling price during the quarter. A handful of analysts chimed in with price-target adjustments, while Seaport Research downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "buy." Looking to fall from last session's record highs, KBH is up 81.3% since last January. 
5. Pivotal inflation data continues tomorrow, as well as bank earnings. 

Nikkei Continues Higher

Stocks in Asia were mostly higher to close Thursday’s session. Japan’s Nikkei once again led the gainers, posting a 1.8% pop, closing above the 35,000 level for the first time since February 1990. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng followed close behind with a 1.3% pop, and China’s Shanghai Composite locked in a 0.3% gain. Rounding out the region, South Korea’s Kospi closed just below breakeven after the country’s central bank kept interest rates at 3.5% -- matching economists’ expectations.

After struggling for several sessions, European markets are mostly higher this afternoon as investors await to unpack stateside inflation data. While London’s FTSE 100 is 0.2% lower, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 are both up 0.1%.