(May 13) U.S. stock market opens higher Thursday after Wednesday's inflation-fueled. Nasdaq Composite advances 1.1%. Dow gains 0.2%; S&P 500 rises 0.5%.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite popped 1.1% as Apple rebounded 2% and Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook all rose more than 1%.
The rise in stocks on Thursday only partially reversed a sharp decline across the equity indexes on Wednesday. Fearsof rising inflation hammered Wall Streetafter grim consumer price data sparked a sell-off in blue chip and technology shares, amplifying new concerns about the rebound from COVID-19. The Dow Jones Industrial Index (^DJI), S&P 500 Index (^GSPC)and Nasdaq (^IXIC) all plummeted, closing more than 2% lower on the day. Tech stocks suffered their worst day since March 18, according to Yahoo Finance data, while the Dow had its worst showing since late January.
Meanwhile, after Friday's disappointing U.S. jobs report, all eyes Thursday were on initial jobless claims, which dipped below thepsychologically-important threshold of 500,000to a new pandemic-era low.
A weekend cyber-attack sharply drove up the cost of gas nationwide while sparking shortages, and those fears were partly alleviated after Colonial Pipeline — operator of the nation's largest fuel pipeline network — said late Wednesdaythat it began restarting service to the East Coast.
However, the episode reflected widening fears that price pressuresacross a range of goods and sectorsmay berousing themselves from an extended slumber. Although the U.S. economy is poised to grow at breakneck speed this year — which has underpinned rallying stocks — mounting supply shortages in the face of surging demand are threatening to fan inflation.
Those fears crystallized early Wednesday, after the government reported that headline consumer pricessurged by a faster than expected 4.2%last month. Excluding food and energy, prices jumped 0.9% in April and are up 3.0% over the year. And on Thursday, the government's print on producer prices also came in higher than expected, with core producer prices rising 4.1% last month versus the 3.8% increase expected.
“It’s not a matter of whether inflation is going to be firming over the next couple of months ... it will,” Garrett Melson, a portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Manager Solutions, told Yahoo Finance on Wednesday.
“The bigger story is whether we’re seeing a persistent and structural shift higher in prices,” he added.
A system-wide disruption following a cyberattack on a key energy pipeline operator has sent gasoline prices higher, accelerating an already upward-moving trend in energy prices as demand for travel and fuel resurges coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tableau of faster growth and soaring prices complicates the Federal Reserve's policy ofallowing the economy to run hot— and Wall Street's willingness to take the central bank at its word.
Investors have in turn also been pondering when the Fed might step in and adjust its highly accommodative monetary policies to stave off rising inflation. Many policymakers, however, have remained of the view that thecentral bank needs to keep rates low and sustain asset purchasesat their current, aggressive rate to support the economy, which is still emerging from a worldwide health crisis.
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