- Stocks ended Thursday slightly higher ahead of a key update on inflation.
- PCE for May will be published on Friday morning, providing new hints about when rate cuts may be coming.
US stocks ended Thursday's trading session slightly higher as investors prepared to pore over new inflation data in the form of personal consumption expenditures for May, set to be published by the Commerce Department on Friday morning.
Bond yields dipped ahead of the new data, with the 10-year Treasury yield falling about two basis points to 4.292%.
Fresh readings on Thursday hinted at a soft PCE report, with a second revision to first-quarter GDP showing slightly higher growth than first earlier figures, but still coming in sharply lower than the final quarters of 2023. Jobless claims were lower for the week but remained near the highest level in 10 months.
Friday's PCE will be key, as the latest batch of economic statistics doesn't quite meet the threshold for the Federal Reserve to lower rates at its next meeting in July, though markets are still hopeful for the first move to come in September.
"[T]his softness doesn't reach the Fed's bar to justify a rate cut at the July 31 decision, especially since the U.S. economy's return to more normal inflation took a bigger step back in the first quarter than previously understood," Bill Adams, Chief Economist for Comerica Bank, said Thursday. "More recent data have moved in the right direction, but not by enough to convince the Fed that inflation is whipped."
Fed officials have struck a more hawkish tone in recent public remarks, with Governor Michelle Bowman saying this week that a rate hike wasn't off the table if inflation remains stuck or rises again.
Chips stocks continued to wobble, led by Micron and Nvidia on Thursday. Micron tumbled after guidance failed to impress investors, while Nvidia resumed a sell-off that has wiped billions from its market cap since last week.
Meanwhile, meme-stock icon Keith Gill, also known as Roaring Kitty on social media, sparked a rally in shares of Chewy after he posted a picture of a dog on X.
Here's where US indexes stood shortly at the 4:00 p.m. closing bell on Thursday:
- S&P 500: 5,482.87, up 0.1%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 39,164.06, up 0.1% (36 points)
Nasdaq composite: 17,858.68, up 0.3%
Here's what else is going on today:
- The CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond testified in a deposition that she had concerns Ryan Cohen was being given insider information before he sold his stock in the retailer for a $60 million windfall.
- Russia is flooding European markets with cheap gas to try and win back customers.
- Stocks are poised for a correction amid slowing growth, high inflation, and a dimming outlook for rate cuts, Stifel said.
In commodities, bonds, and crypto:
- Oil futures climbed. West Texas Intermediate crude oil jumped 1.25% to $81.91 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 1.4% to $86.46 a barrel.
- Gold rose 1% to $2,337.30 per ounce.
- The 10-year Treasury yield fell two basis points to 4.292%.
- Bitcoin inched up 0.6% to $61,364.