S&P 500, Nasdaq Futures Plunge After Consumer Price Inflation Surprises To The Upside — Twitter, Peloton, Oracle Stocks In Focus

The major U.S. index futures squandered early gains and were moving to the downside following the release of the August inflation report. 

On Monday, U.S. stocks advanced for a fourth straight session, with the major averages settling at two-week highs. The market witnessed across-the-board strength, as evidenced by positive closes by all S&P sector indexes. Energy, IT, communication and consumer discretionary stocks saw particular strength.

“The stock market liked the news that Russian troops are retreating in Ukraine as special forces are recapturing towns,” said hedge fund manager Louis Navellier. Some market experts attributed the move to the market discounting a lower inflation rate.

Here’s a peek into index futures trading:

In premarket trading on Tuesday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was rising 0.54% to $413.19 and the Invesco QQQ TrustQQQ was moving up 0.51% to $312.33, according to Benzinga Pro data.

On the economic front, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the consumer price inflation report for August showing an 8.3% annual rate of change in the headline inflation.  Economists, on average, expected a downtick in the annual rate of the consumer price index to 8.1% from 8.5% in July. Sell-side firms' had estimated range between 7.9% and 8.3%.

The month-over-month change of 0.1% belied expectations of Credit Suisse, which was bracing for a  0.2% month-over-month drop in the consumer price index. The monthly rate of core inflation came in at 0.6%, more than the expected 0.2% increase, and on a year-over-year basis, the core reading rose a more than expected 6.3%.

See also: US Inflation Data Expected To Show 8% Increase In August: What It Means For Interest Rates

Stocks In Focus

• Peloton Interactive, Inc. PTON stock is moving lower following the news of the departure of its co-founders.
• Oracle Corporation ORCL shares are advancing despite its first-quarter earnings trailing estimates.
• Twitter, Inc. TWTR shares are on investors' radar as the company’s shareholders vote on the proposal to be bought by Elon Musk.

Commodity, Global Markets:

Crude oil futures gave back their Asian session gains and are up only modestly.

The U.S. dollar has firmed up against its major counterparts amid the inflation report, as traders construed the data as supportive of a more aggressive monetary stance by the Federal Reserve.

Asian stocks showed tentativeness on Tuesday as traders preferred to stay on the sidelines ahead of the U.S. inflation data. Most major averages from the region closed modestly to moderately higher, although the Hong Kong, Malaysian, and New Zealand markets ended in the red.

The European markets sustained their gains amid the release of the U.S. inflatiion report.