US Stocks Set For A Mixed Start Following Higher Inflation Print: Expert Says Earnings Remain Strong Despite Uncertainty

U.S. stock futures were mixed on Thursday after a hotter-than-expected January inflation print, which was released on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones declined in premarket, whereas Nasdaq 100 and Russell 2000 were up.

Traders await the headline and core producer price index data for January which will be released before the market opens.

The 10-year Treasury yield stood at 4.61%, while the two-year yield was at 4.34%. According to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, there is a 97.5% chance that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged for the March meeting.

Futures	Change (+/-)
Nasdaq 100	0.11%
S&P 500	-0.03%
Dow Jones	-0.01%
Russell 2000	0.30%

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF QQQ were mixed in premarket trading on Thursday. SPY fell 0.013% to $603.28, and QQQ was up 0.15% to $529.07, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Cues From The Last Session

U.S. stocks mostly declined on Wednesday after January’s CPI exceeded expectations at 3% year-over-year and 0.5% monthly, which was the fastest pace of growth since August.

Materials, energy, and real estate sectors led losses, while consumer staples and communication services advanced.

Megacap tech like Amazon.com Inc. AMZN and Alphabet Inc. GOOG GOOGL fell, while Tesla Inc. TSLA rebounded over 2% after a five-day losing streak. CVS Health Corp. CVS surged 15% on strong earnings.

The Dow fell 225 points or 0.50% to 44,368.56, the S&P 500 was down 0.27% and closed at 6,051.97, and the Nasdaq Composite was above the flatline by 0.031% at 19,649.95. Russell 2000 Index fell 0.87% to 2,255.89.

Index	Performance (+/-)	Value
Nasdaq Composite	0.031%	19,649.95
S&P 500	-0.27%	6,051.97
Dow Jones	-0.50%	44,368.56
Russell 2000	-0.87%	2,255.89

Insights From Analysts

As President Donald Trump‘s policies begin to take shape, Louis Navellier of Navellier & Associates said that investors should not expect immediate action from the Federal Reserve, as the central bank is likely to remain on the sidelines until there is more clarity on which proposals will be enacted.

However, he said that despite the uncertainty surrounding Trump's new agenda, earnings remain strong, and consumer spending continues, suggesting positive momentum, though tempered with caution. As the details of the administration’s plans unfold, both the market and the Fed are likely to remain in a wait-and-see mode.

Ed Yardeni and Eric Wallerstein from Yardeni Research highlighted that the policy side effects of Trump 2.0 go beyond just Fed-related economic data, such as inflation and labor market reports. They pointed out that President Trump's announcement that Russia had agreed to start negotiations “immediately” to end the war in Ukraine provided a boost to stocks.

Talking about Wednesday’s CPI print, Subho Moulik, Founder & CEO, Appreciate said that higher inflation could prompt policymakers in Washington to maintain a higher-for-longer stance—as seen in December 2024 when a marginal CPI beat reinforced the Fed's cautious approach.

“This hawkish tilt could push U.S. bond yields higher, strengthen the dollar, and trigger further capital outflows from emerging markets,” he added.

See Also: How to Trade Futures

Upcoming Economic Data

Here’s what investors will keep an eye on Thursday:

Initial jobless claims till Feb. 8 will be out at 8:30 a.m., ET.
The headline and core producer price index data for January will be released at 8:30 a.m., ET as well.

Stocks In Focus:

Deere & Co. DE was down 0.32% in premarket on Thursday ahead of its earnings, which will be released before the opening bell. Analysts expect it to report quarterly earnings of $3.11 per share on revenue of $7.70 billion.
GE Healthcare Technologies Inc. GEHC rose 0.13% as Wall Street expects it to report quarterly earnings of $1.26 per share on revenue of $5.33 billion before the opening bell.
Zebra Technologies Corp. ZBRA declined 0.26% ahead of its earnings, which will be released before the opening bell. Analysts expect it to report quarterly earnings of $3.94 per share on revenue of $1.32 billion.
Coinbase Global Inc. COIN advanced 3.31% ahead of its earnings, which will be released after the closing bell. Analysts expect it to report quarterly earnings of $1.81 per share on revenue of $1.83 billion.
Applied Materials Inc. AMAT was down 0.1% as Wall Street expects it to report quarterly earnings of $2.29 per share on revenue of $7.14 billion after the closing bell.
Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO was up 5.97% after it reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and revealed an AI order pipeline of $700 million for the six months ended Jan. 25.
Fastly Inc. FSLY dropped 20.26% after it reported a fourth-quarter loss of 3 cents per share. Whereas, the quarterly revenue came in at $140.58 million, beating the $138.27 million analyst consensus estimate.
HubSpot Inc. HUBS was higher by 5.74% after it reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Commodities, Gold And Global Equity Markets:

Crude oil futures were trading lower in the early New York session by 1.42% to hover around $70.36 per barrel.

The gold spot index was up by 0.43% to $2,916.84 per ounce. The Dollar Index was down 0.3% at 107.615 level.

Asian markets were mixed on Thursday as India's S&P BSE Sensex, Hong Kong's Hang Seng, and China's CSI 300 index declined. Australia's ASX 200, South Korea's Kospi, and Japan's Nikkei 225 index advanced. European markets were mostly higher in trade.

Read Next: