Wall St set to fall after CPI, jobless data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street was headed for a lower open on Thursday as indexes hovered at multi-year highs after both inflation and weekly claims for jobless benefits came in higher than expected.

U.S. core consumer prices rose at their quickest pace in more than a year in January at a time when the Federal Reserve's monetary police is again in focus as signs of inflation creep back into the global economy.

"Portfolios managers who have only just started positioning their portfolios for higher inflation are likely to accelerate their moves based on these increasingly higher numbers," said Steven Neimeth, money manager at SunAmerica Asset Management In Jersey City, New Jersey, which manages $9 billion.

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits rose last week, partially reversing the prior week's hefty decline, but the data still pointed at gradual labor market recovery.

S&P 500 futures fell 3.5 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures dropped 20 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 5 points.

The S&P 500 rose Wednesday to double its bear market low just two years ago, boosted by earnings and M&A announcements. The index has risen more than 27 percent since the end of August.

Nvidia Corp said late Wednesday that first-quarter sales would rise 6 percent to 8 percent from the fourth quarter on strong demand for its processors for smartphones and tablets. Its shares fell 2.9 percent to $22.70 in premarket trade.

Williams Cos Inc plans to split its pipeline and exploration businesses into separate public entities. Its shares rose 11.24 percent to $30.88.

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc reported a better-than-expected surge in quarterly profit as demand and prices for its iron ore and steel-making coal soared. Its shares rose 10.6 percent to $102.

Data storage equipment maker NetApp Inc gave a weaker-than-expected profit forecast, blaming a components shortage, pushing the company's shares down 7.8 percent to $54.

At 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank releases the February business activity survey.

(Additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

WhatsAppFacebookTwitterLinkedinBeloudBluesky