U.S. stock futures climbed early Wednesday as Wall Street mulled a better-than expected inflation reading for July.
Futures tied to the benchmark S&P 500 index were up 0.4%, while contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced by 80 points, or about 0.2%. Nasdaq futures gained 0.5%.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ July Consumer Price Index (CPI) reflected a year-over-year increase of 8.5% last month, down from June’s 40-year high of 9.1%. Consensus economists were expecting last month’s reading to show an 8.7% increase, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
“The outlook for inflation remains the primary concern for investors,” Wilmington Trust Chief Investment Officer Tony Roth and Chief Economist Luke Tilley said in a note. “Persistent inflation is weighing on sentiment for consumers and businesses, yet economic data remains quite mixed and concerns are elevated that aggressive Fed policy could push the U.S. into recession.”
Meanwhile, Elon Musk dumped $6.9 billion worth of Tesla (TSLA) stock late Tuesday after the electric carmaker’s Chief Executive Officer said he was done selling shares of the company. Musk said in a tweet that he wanted to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock in the event he’s forced to proceed with his deal to acquire Twitter (TWTR).
Yes.
In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal to close *and* some equity partners don’t come through, it is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 10, 2022
On the earnings front, shares of Coinbase (COIN) slid 5% in extended trading after the cryptocurrency exchange reported second-quarter earnings Tuesday afternoon that came short of Wall Street estimates and said user growth slowed and is set to fall further the rest of this year.
Roblox (RBLX) also took a hit early Wednesday following a harsh miss on results for the second quarter as consumers scale back on discretionary spending and the gaming industry sees a slowdown in the pandemic-fueled boom. Shares plunged nearly 15% ahead of the open.
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Alexandra Semenova is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alexandraandnyc
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Source: finance.yahoo.com