Marcus Today Pre-Market Podcast – Friday 17th February

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 431 points, closing on its lows, or 1.26%. The S&P 500 dipped 1.38% and the Nasdaq fell 1.78%. Microsoft and Disney contributed the most to the Dow’s decline, down more than 2% each.  SPI down 18 points. 

• The US producer price index jumped 0.7% in January, driven up in part by a 5% surge in energy prices. That increase compared with a 0.2%  drop from November to December, and it was nearly twice the rise that economists had been expecting.
• Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core wholesale inflation was up 5.4% in January from a year earlier and 0.5% from December to January.
• Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland president Loretta Mester said she saw a compelling case for rolling out another 0.5%  interest-rate increase earlier this month.
• Commodities higher with copper at 1.9%. Oil down 0.3%. Gold up 0.2%.
• Results in focus.

Why not sign up for a free trial? Get access to expert insights and research and become a better investor.