U.S. stock market outlook | S&P and Nasdaq futures both rise, market focuses on U.S. January PPI
Before the U.S. stock market opened on Friday, February 16, the three major U.S. stock index futures were mixed. As of press time, Dow futures fell 0.13%, S&P 500 futures rose 0.19%, and Nasdaq futures rose 0.58%. In terms of European stocks, as of press time, the German DAX index rose 0.70%, the British FTSE 100 index rose 1.06%, the French CAC 40 index rose 0.52%, and the European Stoxx 50 index rose 0.58%.
Market news
The U.S. PPI data is coming tonight. CPI data released earlier this week showed U.S. consumer prices soared at the start of the year, dashing hopes for a sustained decline in inflation and possibly delaying a rate cut by the Federal Reserve. Core CPI increased by 0.4% month-on-month in January, the highest level in eight months. In January, CPI increased by 3.1% year-on-year, exceeding market expectations of 2.9%, and rising by 0.3% from December. Economists believe that core CPI is a better reflection of underlying inflation than the overall consumer price index (CPI). In terms of PPI expectations, economists generally expect an increase of 0.1% month-on-month in January, as well as year-on-year increases of 0.6% for overall PPI and 1.6% for core PPI.
Fed Bostic: No rush to cut interest rates, it will take time to ensure inflation returns to target. The Federal Reserve’s 2024 voting committee and Atlanta Fed President, Bostic, said that no rush to cut interest rates was necessary as the U.S. labor market and economy are still strong. He warned that it is unclear whether inflation will continue to move toward the Fed’s anchored 2% target. Fed officials have spent much of the first seven weeks of the year trying to quash market expectations that the central bank will cut interest rates at its next policy meeting in March.
Societe Generale strategists warned that the Fed may still raise interest rates. They believe that if the U.S. economy accelerates again, the Federal Reserve’s next policy move may be to raise interest rates rather than cut them, and subsequently boost the dollar.
The effect is explosive! OpenAI releases the first video generation model, Sora: input text and output video. OpenAI launched Sora, a new generative artificial intelligence model on Thursday. Sora works similarly to OpenAI’s image-generating artificial intelligence tool DALL-E. The user enters the desired scene, and Sora returns a high-definition video clip. Sora can also generate video clips inspired by still images and extend existing videos or fill in missing frames. As chatbots and image generators make their way into the consumer and business worlds, video could become the next frontier for generative artificial intelligence.
Individual stock news
Apple (AAPL.US) wants to “preempt others”! Xcode and iOS integration of AI are ready to go. According to media reports, Apple is stepping up the development of new artificial intelligence features and is nearing completion of a key new AI software tool for Apple system-side application developers. There are continuous media reports that Apple will integrate AI technology into the iOS and macOS operating systems.
“AI belief” has helped Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM.US)’s stock price skyrocket, and it is expected to re-enter the top ten most valuable listed companies in the world.
Eli Lilly (LLY.US) will initiate a phase III study of the head-to-head GLP-1R/GIPR/GCGR agonist semaglutide.
Ford (F.US) CEO talks about the impact of the general strike: In the future, we will seriously consider where to produce cars.
Important economic data and event forecasts
21:00: 2024 FOMC Voting Committee and Richmond Fed Chairman Barkin delivers a speech.
21:30: US January PPI
23:00: U.S. one-year inflation rate expectation in February; preliminary value of U.S. University of Michigan consumer confidence index in February.