Stock Futures Slip as Wholesale Inflation Heats Up
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures are pointed lower this morning, despite a big earnings beat from component stock Home Depot (HD). In economic news,the producer price index (PPI) rose 0.4% in October and 2.8% year-over-year, surpassing consensus estimates. This inflation data will be at the forefront of investors' minds as Fed Chief Janet Yellen joins a number of her global counterparts at the European Central Bank (ECB) conference in Frankfurt, Germany.
Markets will also be eyeing President Trump's imminent return from his tour of Asia -- which he wrapped up a bit earlier than planned, with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson standing in for Trump at today's East Asia Summit. Trump, who has indicated his trip yielded "at least $300 billion" in trade deals, has promised a "major announcement" on his return to the White House.
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5 Things You Need to Know Today
Overseas Trading
A disappointing round of Chinese economic data weighted on Asian stocks today. Specifically, year-to-date fixed asset investment, and retail sales and industrial output for October all came in below expectations, while housing sales last month slowed on a year-over-year basis. Against this backdrop, China's Shanghai Composite tallied the heftiest loss of 0.5%, while South Korea's Kospi shed 0.2% as tourism stocks fell, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gave back 0.1%, and Japan's Nikkei ended fractionally lower.
European stocks are mostly lower at midday, as traders digest speeches from a number of global central bank leaders at today's ECB conference, including one from ECB President Mario Draghi. Among specific sectors, mining shares are on the decline following disappointing data out of China, though upbeat earnings from Simcorp are boosting tech stocks. At last check, the French CAC 40 was down 0.4%, while the German DAX was off 0.2% -- even as the country's third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) arrived above estimates and the ZEW economic sentiment indicator edged up, though it did fall short of expectations. On the flip side, London's FTSE 100 has added 0.1%, as shares of Tesco rally on a regulatory win in the grocer's potential merger with Booker Group.