Inflation comes in hotter than expected US stock futures seesawed around the flatline Thursday morning as a reading on December inflation came in slightly hotter than economists had expected, raising new questions about the Federal Reserve's path on interest rates.
S&P 500 (^GSPC) futures were down about 0.1% after the benchmark ended Wednesday at its highest close since January 2022, just short of notching a new record. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) wavered around the flatline, while those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (^NDX) also fell around 0.1%.
Stocks have struggled this week as investors counted down to the US consumer inflation reading for December. That reading showed a slightly bigger jump than expected, as prices ticked up 0.3% month over month and 3.4% year over year. On a "core" basis, inflation rose 3.9% over the past year.
The print was seen as critical for traders who have been increasingly pricing in the odds of a "soft landing" — where inflation retreats to 2% without an economic downturn — since the last CPI report.