The stock market fell Thursday morning as a key inflation rate ticked higher and jobless claims rose. Oil prices fell as President Biden indicated he is set to release some U.S. oil reserves.
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The Nasdaq fell 0.4%. The S&P 500 dropped 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.5%. Volume fell on the Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange compared with Wednesday’s volume. The small cap Russell 2000 dipped 0.1%.
The inflation rate most closely watched by the Federal Reserve showed that price pressures accelerated to a new 40-year high, but prices excluding food and energy were a bit tamer than expected. The stock market barely reacted to the mixed personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, with S&P 500 futures up a fraction.
The PCE price index rose 0.6%, the biggest monthly gain since 2008. The annual inflation rate rose to 6.4%, highest since January 1982. Core prices, minus food and energy, rose 0.4% on the month. The annual core inflation rate picked up to 5.4%, the most since April 1983.
U.S. Stock Market Today Overview |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Index | Symbol | Price | Gain/Loss | % Change |
| Dow Jones | (0DJIA) | 35041.36 | -187.45 | -0.53 |
| S&P 500 | (0S&P5) | 4585.72 | -16.73 | -0.36 |
| Nasdaq | (0NDQC ) | 14379.31 | -62.97 | -0.44 |
| Russell 2000 | (IWM) | 207.30 | -0.16 | -0.08 |
| IBD 50 | (FFTY) | 39.55 | +0.10 | +0.25 |
| Last Update: 10:32 AM ET 3/31/2022 | ||||
The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 2.34%, extending Wednesday’s losses.
Oil Falls As Biden To Release Oil Reserves
Crude oil prices tumbled 4% to $103.65 on reports that the Biden administration planned a significant release of U.S. oil reserves. According to reports, the Biden administration is considering a plan to release roughly one million barrels of Strategic Petroleum Reserve oil a day for several months with a total release up to 180 million barrels.
Among Dow Jones stocks, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) reported better-than-expected earnings ahead of the market open, sending WBA shares down 5%.
The Deerfield, Ill., drugstore chain company posted net income attributable to Walgreens of $883 million, compared with $1.03 billion a year earlier. Earnings from continuing operations were $1.02 a share, compared with $1.06 a share in the year-ago period. Adjusted for one-time items, earnings were $1.59 a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were looking for adjusted earnings of $1.37 a share.
Vertex Gains On Clinical Trials
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) moved higher in its buy range Thursday morning, rising 0.2% after the company released Phase 2 trial data for an experimental pain drug. The 5% buy area above a 255.03 cup-base entry tops out at 267.78.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals announced promising test results for its opioid alternative on Thursday. The biotech company tested its pain drug in patients following bunion removal and abdominoplasty, a procedural commonly referred to as a tummy tuck. In both studies, a high dose of Vertex’s drug, dubbed VX-548, led to greater pain relief than a placebo and a standard treatment regimen.
Outside of the Dow Jones 30, chip leader Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) declined more than 5% after Barclays downgraded the stock from overweight to equal-weight. EV giant Tesla (TSLA) fell 0.7% Thursday.
In other economic news, initial jobless claims rose by 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 202,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. The report indicated a strong labor market and was up from the previous week of 188,000 jobless claims.
Follow Michael Molinski on Twitter @IMmolinski
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