Traders watch as President-elect Donald Trump walks onto the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with his wife, Melania, after being named Time’s “Person of the Year” for the second time, on Dec. 12, 2024.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Stocks fell Thursday, weighed down by a hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation report, as tech shares failed to keep the momentum seen earlier in the week.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid 0.66%, dipping back below the 20,000 threshold to end at 19,902.84. The broad market S&P 500 shed 0.54% to close at 6,051.25. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 234.44 points, or 0.53%, to settle at 43,914.12. It was the 30-stock index’s sixth straight losing day.
Tech names were among the notable decliners, with Nvidia losing more than 1%. Software giant Adobe declined more than 13% following the company’s weaker-than-expected 2025 outlook. Meta Platforms, Alphabet and Amazon ended the session lower as well.
The producer price index, which tracks wholesale prices, increased 0.4% last month. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a 0.2% increase on a monthly basis. The 10-year Treasury yield jumped to the highest level in two weeks following the data.
This follows November’s consumer price index report, which came in line with economists’ estimates and has prompted investors to anticipate another interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve at its policy meeting next week.
“I think the trajectory of disinflation is promising and concerning at the same time,” Keith Buchanan, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments, said to CNBC. “We continue to grind below 3%, but progress seems to be slowing as we try to get things towards the Fed’s target of 2%.”
To be sure, Buchanan still believes the Fed is going to lower rates next week. Fed funds futures trading data reflects a nearly 95% likelihood that central bank policymakers will do so by a quarter point, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
“If they had an idea of a plan that didn’t match what the market expected this close to the meeting, we’d know it,” he added.
Wall Street is coming off a mixed session, with the Nasdaq topping 20,000 for the first time and reaching new all-time and closing highs. The S&P 500 also gained. The Dow, however, pulled back.