A sigh of relief over inflation data
Glitch at NYSE leads to some wild stock swings
An apparent glitch at the operator of the New York Stock Exchange triggered volatility trading halts in about a dozen companies, including Chipotle and Berkshire Hathaway.
Bloomberg
U.S. stocks mostly edged higher at the open as investors expressed relief that the latest inflation report matched economists’ expectations.
The personal consumption expenditures prices paid index, which is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, increased 0.3% for the month and 2.5% on an annual basis in January. So-called core PCE, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, also rose 0.3% for the month and 2.6% year over year. The numbers all came in as expected with Dow Jones consensus estimates.
This was a huge relief after January’s hotter-than-expected consumer price index. January’s CPI hit a seven-month high, fanning worries that prices were reversing course before reaching the Federal Reserve’s 2% goal.
Around 9:53 a.m. ET, the broad S&P 500 index edged up 0.13%, or 7.73 points, to 5,869.30; the blue-chip Dow rose 0.30%, or 128.03 points, to 43,367.53; and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dipped 0.16%, or 29.47 points, to 18,514.95. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield eased to 4.239%.
Still, all three major stock indexes were on track for a losing month as investors worry that President Donald Trump’s tariff plans will spark trade wars that will hurt the economy and reignite inflation. China vowed retaliation after Trump slapped another 10% tariff on Chinese goods, effective March 4. On that same day next week, he said the U.S. would impose a 25% tax on European Union products.
Month to date, the Nasdaq has shed around 6% in February due largely to a 5% drop this week. The index is on pace for its worst month since September 2023. The S&P 500 is on track for its worst week since September 2024 and its biggest monthly decline since April 2024.
Corporate news
- Autodesk said it’ll cut 9% of its workforce and make facility reductions. Its stock fell more than 2.5%.
- HP said it plans to layoff 1,000 to 2,000 employees as the computer maker reported weak fourth-quarter results and warned the first three months of the year would also be weak. It said prospective tariffs would be a drag on its quarterly results. HP stock dropped more than 7%.
- Google’s “People Operations,” its human relations division, is offering buyouts to U.S.-based employees while the company laid off some members of its cloud staff this week. Shares are fractionally higher.
- Elastic reported better-than-expected results during its fiscal third quarter. Shares of the data analytics company rallied almost 14%.
- Redfin said its loss per share in the last three months of the year was wider than analysts’ forecasts. The real estate technology stock tumbled about 12.5%.
- Rocket Lab shares dropped 5.75% after the company issued a bleak outlook.
- Dell stock lost 3.69% after the PC maker forecast a decline in its adjusted gross margin rate for fiscal year 2026, hit by higher building costs for artificial intelligence servers.
Cryptocurrency
The Securities and Exchange Commission issued guidance Thursday evening saying it does not deem most meme coins securities under U.S. federal law. Instead, it likened the meme coins to collectibles.
The guidance paves the way for both exchange operators to list more meme coins without the risk of regulatory enforcement, experts said. Trump has his own meme coin.
Separately, the SEC dropped a lawsuit against Coinbase that sought to regulate the company as a stock exchange.
These are all in line with views the Trump administration would be light handed in regulating the crypto market.
Yet, the crypto sector can’t shake off its downtrend. Bitcoin dropped to a three-month low, reversing gains made just after Trump’s presidential win. The digital currency was last down 2.95% at $82,499.77.
Crypto exchange Coinbase fell almost 1% and Robinhood lost 1.24%.
Medora Lee is a money, markets, and personal finance reporter at USA TODAY. You can reach her at mjlee@usatoday.com and subscribe to our free Daily Money newsletter for personal finance tips and business news every Monday through Friday.
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