US open: Stocks little changed ahead of CPI report, earnings season

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Apple Inc.

$255.27

13:09 23/12/24

0.31%

$0.78

Wall Street got off to a mixed start as investors eyed the release of key inflation data this week and the start of the second-quarter earnings season.

Nasdaq 100

21,503.17

12:15 23/12/24

1.01%

214.02

At 1559 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was gaining 0.49% to 33,860.89, while the S&P 500 was up 0.01% to 4,399.62.

The Nasdaq Composite on the other hand had drifted lower by 0.1% to 13,646.75.

Equity strategists at J.P.Morgan sounded a cautious note, telling clients in a research note that even if Technology and Artificial Intelligence stocks were excluded from the S&P 500, the benchmark gauge was no longer priced for disappointment - far from it.

The corporate earnings season was set to start on Friday with results due out from several large US lenders.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures were up by 0.27% to $74.06 a barrel on NYMEX.

Commenting on the outlook for oil, Craig Erlam at Oanda noted how during the previous week Brent oil had broken above $77 a barrel which he said was possibly a very "significant" development.

In the background, on 7 July, former US Treasury Secretary, Lawrence Summers, told Bloomberg that investors should not be complacent on inflation, adding that the June non-farm payrolls report had been hot".

CPI figures scheduled for release on 12 July were expected to reveal a drop in the annual rate of headline price increases from 4.0% in May to 3.1% for June.

Weaker than expected inflation readings for June released overnight in the People's Republic of China were dragging on investor sentiment.

Top Apple supplier, Chinese outfit Foxconn, pulled out of a $19.5bn project to build a chip plant in India.

Icahn Enterprises shot 17% higher following a Wall Street Journal report that it has finalised amended loan agreements with its banks that untie Icahn's personal loans from the trading price of Icahn Enterprises.

Dow Jones - Risers

Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $222.93 1.96%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $29.61 1.77%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $307.89 1.68%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $248.69 1.43%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $318.80 1.15%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $105.58 1.07%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $32.18 1.04%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $154.90 0.92%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $211.37 0.85%
Visa Inc. (V) $238.24 0.76%