US open: Stocks head south, CPI reading in focus

Wall Street stocks were trading lower early on Wednesday as market participants digested yet another key inflation reading.

As of 1515 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.10% at 36,285.25, while the S&P 500 was 0.06% weaker at 4,682.45 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.22% softer at 15,850.98.

The Dow opened 34.73 points lower on Wednesday, extending losses recorded in the previous session as the producer price index dropped 0.6% in October.

Wednesday's primary focus was October's inflation report, which revealed the cost of living in the US rose more quickly than expected in October on the back of further spikes in energy and food prices.

According to the Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms, the headline consumer price index increased at a month-on-month pace of 0.9%, which pushed the year-on-year rate up to 6.2%. Economists had pencilled-in a smaller 0.6% jump to 6.2%. Energy inflation shot higher by 4.8% versus September, nearly tripling the previous month's advance, while food costs jumped by 0.9%.

Elsewhere on the macro front, the initials jobless claims report from the Labor Department, coming in a day earlier than usual due to tomorrow's Veteran's Day holiday, came in at another fresh Covid-era low of 267,000 in the seven day's ended 5 November, down from the previous week's revised reading of 271,000. Continuing claims for the week ended 30 October increased slightly to 2.16m from the prior week's revised print of 2.1m.

Still on data, mortgage rates slipped for a second straight week in the seven days ended 5 November, down to 3.16% from 3.24%, helping boost refinance demand across the US. As a result, total mortgage application volume rose 5.5% week-on-week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's seasonally adjusted index.

Lastly, a report from the Census Bureau revealed that wholesale inventories rose 1.4% in September as US businesses prepared for the all-important holiday trading period. Sales in the month increased 1.1%, while the inventory-to-sales ratio was unchanged at 1.23 months.

In the corporate space, Disney and Bumble will both report earnings after the close on Wednesday.