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U.S. stock futures were flat in after-hours trading Wednesday evening as investors await the release of the Federal Reserve’s favorite inflation metric.
An update to the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index arrives Thursday at 8:30 a.m. The Fed prefers to assess inflation using the PCE price index and core PCE—a metric that excludes food and energy prices, which tend to be more volatile.
Investors continue to closely track the Fed. and its chair, Jerome Powell. The central bank’s interest-rate-raising plans remain perhaps the most important factor determining the direction of the market as the U.S. experiences its highest inflation since the early 1980s. On Wednesday morning, Powell pledged to contain inflation as he spoke with the heads of the European Central Bank and the Bank of England at the ECB’s annual economic-policy conference in Portugal.
Stock prices didn’t move with much conviction throughout the day. By the closing bell, the major indexes had barely budged after oscillating throughout the session. The S&P 500 fell 0.1% and the tech-filled Nasdaq Composite dropped just 0.03%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3%.
At 6:15 p.m. Eastern Time, futures floated around 0%. The S&P 500 was up 0.01%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.05%, and the Nasdaq was down 0.01%.
Powell said Wednesday that the Fed is “strongly committed” to reducing inflation. Core PCE increased 4.9% from a year earlier when personal income and outlays were reported for April. Economists are now forecasting a 0.4% monthly increase and a 4.8% year-over-year increase in core PCE when new numbers become public Thursday, according to a survey compiled by The Wall Street Journal. Readings on inflation help the central bank decide how quickly to raise the federal-funds rate.
“As a risk management matter, we’re working very hard on the part that we can affect, which is the demand side,” Powell said during Wednesday’s panel. “We can’t affect the supply side really, but we can affect the large parts of the economy where there’s surplus demand, and that’s really our focus.”
After the market closed Wednesday,
Duck Creek Technologies
(ticker:
DCT
), a software provider for property and casualty insurance, shedded 13.1% after reporting third-quarter earnings. The firm registered a loss of $5.76 million for the third quarter after only losing $357,000 in the third quarter last year.
RH
(
RH
), the holding company for Restoration Hardware, was down 5.5% after the company reduced its sales expectation for 2022. Home-products retailer
WSM
) also lost 4.3%.
After-hours gainers included
Hawaiian Electric Industries
(
HE
), which was up 6.8%, and
ATUS
), up 5.3%, as well as
FTDR
) and
VICI
). Both gained 3.5%.
NYT
) stock was also up 3.3% after hours. The company announced a nine-cent-per-share quarterly dividend earlier on Wednesday.
Wednesday night Eastern Time, China’s National Bureau of Statistics announces its manufacturing purchasing managers index (
PMI
) for June. Economists expect the indicator to signify an expansion in the sector for the first time since February.
In addition to personal income and outlays, weekly U.S. jobless claims, which are forecast to be 230,000 last week after coming in at 229,000 the week before, will also go live Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m.
Before trading begins Thursday,
STZ
) and
WBA
) report earnings.
Goldman Sachs
(GS) analyst Bonnie Herzog reaffirmed a Buy rating for Constellation ahead of Thursday’s release.
Write to editors@barrons.com
Read More: Stock Futures Level Ahead of Key Inflation Metric Thursday