US open: Mixed start to trading as investors digest PPI reading
Wall Street stocks were mixed early on Tuesday as market participants thumbed over last month's producer price index and concerns related to the Covid-19 omicron variant continued to weigh on sentiment.
As of 1500 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.30% at 35,756.43, while the S&P 500 was 0.39% weaker at 4,650.64 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 1.05% softer at 15,251.18.
The Dow opened 105.48 points higher on Tuesday after seeing out the previous session firmly in the red as the Covid-19 omicron variant returned to focus.
Tuesday's primary focus was news inflation data that revealed producer prices rose at a quicker than expected pace in November amid widespread gains across the various categories of goods. According to the Department of Labor, so-called final demand prices increased 0.8% versus October, pushing the annual rate of increase to 9.6%. Economists had pencilled-in growth of 0.5% on the month and 9.2% year-on-year.
Food prices rose by 1.2% on the month, while energy was 2.6% dearer. Prices also bounded ahead of forecasts of 0.5% growth at the core level, which excludes the often-volatile prices for food and energy, rising by 0.8%.
Also likely to draw an amount of investor attention, the Federal Reserve will kick off its latest two-day policy meeting on Tuesday, with the central bank releasing a statement on quarterly projections for the economy, inflation and interest rates on Wednesday.
Elsewhere on the macro front, the NFIB's small business optimism index came in at 98.4 in November up from 98.2 in the previous month. However, the headline reading buries some of the more negative parts of the report, with the uncertainty index slipping four points to 63 and expectations falling by one point to -38 - tying a 48-year record low reading.
In the corporate space, Tesla shares were trading lower in early trade after chief executive Elon Musk revealed he had sold a further $906.5m shares in the electric carmaker, while Ford stock slumped on news that competitor Toyota will pour $35.0bn into battery-powered electronic vehicles by 2030.
No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Tuesday.
Dow Jones - Risers
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $49.87 1.49%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $124.29 1.39%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $154.91 1.13%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $53.86 1.01%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $177.16 0.81%
Boeing Co. (BA) $198.88 0.75%
3M Co. (MMM) $175.72 0.65%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $151.31 0.58%
Visa Inc. (V) $212.25 0.58%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $480.20 0.43%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $260.60 -1.94%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $333.24 -1.81%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $57.94 -1.14%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $167.30 -0.68%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $72.94 -0.65%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $402.91 -0.57%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $142.75 -0.57%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $49.74 -0.53%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $166.19 -0.39%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $157.17 -0.32%
S&P 500 - Risers
Fluor Corp. (FLR) $25.17 7.11%
National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) $13.77 5.39%
Macy's Inc. (M) $25.87 3.69%
Centene Corp. (CNC) $80.67 3.22%
Carnival Corp. (CCL) $18.75 2.26%
Nordstrom Inc. (JWN) $20.03 2.19%
Coty Inc. Class A (COTY) $9.87 2.17%
Alaska Air Group Inc. (ALK) $51.30 1.99%
Kohls Corp. (KSS) $49.42 1.75%
Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (BHF) $50.38 1.69%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $630.53 -4.22%
Cadence Design Systems Inc. (CDNS) $177.39 -3.66%
Eog Resources Inc. (EOG) $84.82 -3.64%
Fortinet Inc. (FTNT) $320.66 -3.30%
Ralph Lauren Corp (RL) $116.65 -2.86%
Msci Inc. (MSCI) $605.80 -2.57%
PerkinElmer Inc. (PKI) $182.88 -2.42%
Danaher Corp. (DHR) $310.95 -2.38%
Ford Motor Co. (F) $19.94 -2.37%
Harley-Davidson Inc. (HOG) $37.66 -2.28%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $28.48 2.19%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $28.50 2.11%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $49.87 1.49%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $15.16 1.34%
Dish Network Corp. (DISH) $32.85 1.23%
PACCAR Inc. (PCAR) $89.43 1.22%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $17.33 1.20%
Trip.com Group Limited (TCOM) $25.31 0.92%
Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) $34.78 0.86%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $177.16 0.81%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $630.53 -4.22%
Cadence Design Systems Inc. (CDNS) $177.39 -3.66%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $940.44 -2.69%
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $76.32 -2.22%
Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $189.28 -2.05%
Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) $333.62 -1.98%
Intuit Inc. (INTU) $655.78 -1.94%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $333.24 -1.81%
Synopsys Inc. (SNPS) $356.00 -1.72%
Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) $83.74 -1.67%