Sector movers: REITS and miners drag on FTSE 350 after US producer price data

"The steady rise in the Volatility Index does have some investors worried. Although still subdued compared to 2022, the Vix’s rise since January comes even as stocks hit record highs, but is a sign that trouble might be brewing beneath the surface," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.

"Today’s stronger PPI readings in the US coupled with the CPI figures earlier in the week to suggest the Fed’s tone next week might not be quite what investors were hoping for."

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, producer prices jumped by 0.6% month-on-month, double economists' forecasts.

That was enough for Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, to push back his forecast for the Fed's first rate cut from May to June.

Nevertheless, on the back of the latest weekly jobless claims data in the U.S., which were also published on Thursday, Shepherdson said that he was "becoming increasingly worried that job growth is set to slow sharply in the spring".

Worth noting, declines for industrial miners materialised even as LME copper prices topped $8,900 per metric tonne during the session, reaching their best level in nearly a year.

Going the other Home Construction fared well, likely in part after the Royal Institute of Chertered Surveyors reported that the net balance of surveyors who said prices had increased over the preceding three months improved to -10 in February, versus -18 in January.

Top performing sectors so far today

Household Goods & Home Construction 13,082.79 +1.40%

Industrial Transportation 3,765.60 +1.16%

Oil, Gas and Coal 8,622.13 +0.63%

Software & Computer Services 2,548.01 +0.54%

Retailers 3,871.66 +0.46%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Real Estate Investment Trusts 2,201.87 -1.72%

Industrial Metals & Mining 5,990.07 -1.61%

Precious Metals and Mining 8,609.46 -1.49%

Automobiles & Parts 1,297.32 -1.38%

Chemicals 9,027.89 -1.12%