Futures on the main US stock indexes under pressure, after a difficult week, which saw the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq lose respectively 1.11% and 2.41%, reporting the worst week since December. The Dow Jones reported a weekly decline of -0.17%. In Friday’s session Wall Street closed positive.
The S&P 500 finished the session up 0.2%, a
4,090.46; the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.61% to 11,718.12. the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 169.39 points (+0.5%) to 33,869.27.
The sentiment was depressed by the statements of Fed chairman Jerome Powell who, in a speech given to the Economic Club of Washington, underlined that the Federal Reserve still has a long way to go in its battle against inflation. Powell also said that interest rates could rise more than markets anticipated if the pace of inflation growth does not die down sufficiently.
Crucial market mover this week will be the publication of US inflation data measured by the CPI consumer price index, expected to rise by 0.4% on a monthly basis (by economists interviewed by Dow Jones) and by 6.2% every year. The data will be announced tomorrow, Tuesday 14 February.
From the latest available numbers on US inflation, it emerged that, in December, the US consumer price index slowed further, rising by 6.5% on an annual basis, compared to +7.1 % of the previous month.
The figure was roughly in line with expectations, as analysts polled by Bloomberg had forecast a headline CPI consumer price index up 6.6% year-on-year.
Month-on-month, US inflation fell 0.1% month-on-month, more than expected unchanged trend.
At around 7.10 am Italian time, futures on the Dow Jones, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were down by 0.26%, 0.32% and 0.35% respectively.