Market Snapshot: Stock futures fall ahead of CPI update, and after China inflation surges

United States

U.S. stock futures slipped as investors awaited key inflation data, a day after major indexes broke lengthy winning streams. A surprise jump in consumer prices in China was also seen as denting some enthusiasm for equities.

How are stock-index futures trading?
  • S&P 500 futures ES00, -0.14% were down 0.1% at 4,673
  • Dow Jones Industrial Average YM00, -0.15% futures fell 0.1% to 36,166
  • Nasdaq-100 futures NQ00, -0.15% fell less than a percent to 16,199

On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.31% fell 112 points, or 0.31%, to 36320, the S&P 500 SPX, -0.35% declined 16 points, or 0.35%, to 4685, and the Nasdaq Composite COMP, -0.60% dropped 96 points, or 0.6%, to 15887.

What’s driving the market?

Inflation will swing into focus for Wednesday, with U.S. October consumer prices expected to jump on both headline and core basis — by 0.6% and 0.4%, respectively. Annual CPI is expected to climb 5.8%, the highest level in 30 years, noted Neil Wilson, chief market analyst for Markets.com.

Those data will be released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time, alongside weekly jobless claims, with the October federal budget due at 2 p.m. Eastern Time.

The CPI update comes a day after news of higher U.S. producer prices. Meanwhile, China on Tuesday reported its own factory gate prices surged 13.5% in October, the highest level since 1996. Consumer prices in the country rose 1.5% to a 13-month high, driven mainly by a jump in prices for food and fuel.

Investors will be waiting to see if stocks can recover after Tuesday’s losses halted an eight-day win streak for the S&P 500 and an 11-session winning run for the Nasdaq Composite. The pause came as talk of a melt-up for stocks has increased amid an unusually strong run-up moving into the holidays.

“The decline in Tesla was a factor, but ultimately such a straight charge up will just run out of gas sooner or later. The look-ahead to inflation is maybe a factor so this needs to be assessed with today’s CPI print,” said Wilson.

Shares of Tesla TSLA, -11.99% tumbled 11% on Tuesday after a string of headlines that have rattled investors. Founder and CEO Elon Musk over the weekend asked Twitter followers if he should sell 10% of his stock, with the majority saying yes, and his brother Kimbal sold shares a day before that tweet.

After surging 42% in October, the electric-car maker’s stock has dropped 16% this week, though rose 2% in premarket trading.

And a Tesla rival will begin trading on the Nasdaq Wednesday, as Amazon.com AMZN, +2.50% -backed electric-vehicle maker Rivian Automotive Inc. is due to debut under the ticker symbol RIVN RIVN.

Rivian priced its initial public offering at $ 78 a share Tuesday evening, well above its expected range and valuing the company at $ 77 billion on a fully diluted basis.

Rivian IPO: 5 things to know about the Amazon-backed electric-vehicle maker

And: NIO forecast disappoints as Chinese electric-car maker faces supply-chain concerns

The Walt Disney Co. DIS, -1.00% is among companies due to report earning on Wednesday.

What companies are in focus?
  • Coinbase Global Inc. COIN, +0.98% stock dropped 11% in premarket trading, after the cryptocurrency platform reported disappointing sales amid a summer slowdown in crypto trading.
  • DoorDash Inc. DASH, -0.59% stock climbed 17%, after the delivery company posted record sales and orders, and announced an all-stock deal worth more than $ 8 billion for Finnish commerce-delivery platform Wolt.
  • Upstart Holdings Inc. UPST, -6.24% reported better-than-expected earnings for its latest quarter, but shares of the lending company fell 17% in premarket trading.