With global supply concerns also jarred this week by Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries, U.S. crude rose back above $80 per barrel, close to the year’s high and pushing year-on-year to 12% – the fastest pace since September.
Rising fuel prices were partly responsible for stickier consumer price readings for February earlier this week and the producer price report for last month is due out later – important for many economists as it contains key components in the Federal Reserve’s favored PCE inflation gauge.
Annual headline PPI inflation is expected to tick back up to still-subdued 1.1% during the month, although “core” rates are forecast to fall back below 2.0%. A retail sales readout for February and weekly jobless numbers are also on the diary.
With next week’s Fed meeting now on the radar, futures pricing for a June interest rate cut edged lower. And despite a decent 30-year Treasury bond auction on Wednesday, Treasury yields nudged higher.
Curiously, Treasury market volatility swooned however and the MOVE index fell to its lowest since September.
Wall St stocks stalled again on Wednesday after the prior session’s surge, although stock futures were firmer into the latest screed of economic updates.
Tesla’s ongoing drift lower did grab more attention, however, as the electric vehicle giant’s stock separated further from the fortunes of the so-called Magnificent Seven of megacaps it’s supposed to be part of.
Down yet again ahead of Thursday’s bell and off 2% on Wednesday, it’s now lost more than 30% for the year so far and hit a 10-month low.
Battling a global slowdown in EV demand following last year’s price war that hurt margins, it has lost nearly $200 billion in market value this year. Wells Fargo on Wednesday raised concerns over the waning impact of Tesla price cuts on demand for its EVs and downgraded the stock to “underweight”.
