Benzinga - by Akanksha Bakshi, Benzinga Editor.
On Wednesday, April 10th, the U.S. stock markets ended lower after unexpectedly high inflation data reduced hopes for early Federal Reserve rate cuts.
The major indexes dropped significantly at the start after the CPI report exceeded forecasts, indicating a long battle to achieve the Fed’s 2% inflation target.
According to economic data, the annual inflation rate in the U.S. climbed for the second month in a row, reaching 3.5% in March, up from 3.2% in February. Meanwhile, U.S. wholesale inventories saw a monthly increase of 0.5% in February, marking a turnaround from a 0.2% decrease the month before.
In the S&P 500, all 11 primary sectors finished in the red except for energy, with the real estate segment experiencing the most significant drop.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.09% to close at 38,461.51. The S&P 500 slid 0.95%, ending the day at 5,160.64, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.84%, finishing the session at 16,170.36.
Asian Markets Today
- On Thursday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index ended the trading day lower by 0.30% at 39,445.00, led by losses in the Paper & Pulp, Pharmaceutical Industry, and Retail sectors.
- In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.44% to finish at 7,813.60, led by losses in the A-REITs, Consumer Discretionary and Healthcare sectors.
- India Market was closed for the Id-Ul-Fitr (Ramadan Eid) holiday.
- China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.23% to end the session at 3,034.25, and the Shenzhen CSI 300 slipped 0.01%, closing at 3,504.24.
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.26%, concluding the day at 17,095.03.
- The European STOXX 50 index was down 0.59%.
- Germany’s DAX fell 0.56%.
- France’s CAC slipped 0.18%.
- U.K.’s FTSE 100 traded lower by 0.27%.
- Crude Oil WTI was trading lower by 0.61% at $85.68/bbl, and Brent was down 0.51% at $90.02bbl.
- Natural Gas was flat at $1.885.
- Gold was trading higher by 0.11% at $2,351.10, Silver gained 0.05% to $28.062, while Copper was down 0.54% at $4.2588.
Dow futures were down 0.28%, S&P 500 futures declined 0.31%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures slid 0.25%.
Forex at 06:15 AM ET
The U.S. Dollar Index gained 0.04% to 105.29, USD/JPY was down 0.01% to 153.16, and USD/AUD slipped 0.14% to 1.5340.
Photo by Pavel Bobrovskiy via Shutterstock
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.