US inflation data and Fed speeches in focus as Wall Street ends week lower
US stocks fell last week. Market attention this week turns to October CPI and PPI data, speeches by multiple Federal Reserve officials, and the impact on rate-hike expectations after a strong jobs report.
Wall Street's three major indexes ended last week in the red, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling more than 0.9 per cent, the S&P 500 dropping about 2.7 per cent and the Nasdaq sliding about 3.4 per cent, according to RTHK.
This week, market focus will be on the latest US inflation data, speeches by several Federal Reserve officials, the trilateral US-Russia-Ukraine talks and developments in the Middle East.
The US is set to release October's consumer price index (CPI) on Tuesday. The market expects the month-on-month increase to narrow to 0.3 per cent, but the year-on-year increase to widen to 3.9 per cent. For the core CPI, the market estimates the monthly gain will edge down to 0.2 per cent and the annual gain will expand to 2.8 per cent.
On Friday, October's producer price index (PPI) is due. The market forecasts the monthly increase will narrow markedly to 0.4 per cent, while the annual increase will widen to 6.6 per cent. For core PPI, the market expects the monthly increase to narrow to 0.3 per cent and the annual rate to hold at 5 per cent.
Last Friday's US non-farm payrolls data showed 165,000 new jobs were added in October, far exceeding expectations, and the unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 4.1 per cent. This has raised market expectations for a Fed rate hike next month, and attention is now on speeches by several Fed officials this week.
On the corporate earnings front, CoreWeave, Applied Materials and Cisco Systems are due to report quarterly results this week.
Separately, reports indicate that Anthropic may launch its initial public offering roadshow as early as this week. The market is watching how the recent heavy sell-off in technology stocks could affect Anthropic's valuation.