Coffee With Greta: Inflation Is SCALDING Hot
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DJIA Futures: -326 (-1%)
SPX Futures: -42 (-1%)
NASDAQ Futures: -172 (-1.3%)
Good morning friends!
Futures are lower after talks failed between Russia and Ukraine and the release of new hot inflation data.
Let’s get right to it!
Inflation Heats Up in February
U.S. inflation pressures were scalding hot in February.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the consumer price index surged 7.9% year-over-year last month.
That’s a fresh 40-year high and hotter than economists’ expectations for 7.8%.
On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.8% vs 0.7% expected.
Energy prices continued to lead those gains with gas prices surging 38% year-over-year.
Grocery prices also jumped 8.6% while used car and truck prices skyrocketed 41.2%.
The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 0.5% monthly and 6.4% annually which was in line with expectations.
Weekly Jobless Claims Rise
Weekly jobless claims rose more than expected last week.
The Labor Department reported 227,000 Americans filed initial claims for unemployment benefits.
That was up 11,000 from the previous week and higher than expectations for 216,000.
Continuing claims rose by 18,000 to 1.49 million vs 1.34 million expected.
Oil Resumes Rally
Oil prices are on the rise again today after falling on Wednesday.
WTI crude futures are up 3.8% a nearly $113 per barrel with Brent crude futures up 4.1% to nearly $116 per barrel.
WTI tumbled 12.5% Wednesday, settling at $108.70 per barrel.
That was the largest single-day drop since November 26.
Brent dropped 13% to $111.10 per barrel, the biggest one-day decline since April 2020.
The drop boosted Wall Street on Wednesday with the S&P 500 logging its best day since June 2020.
Russia-Ukraine Talks Fail
Talks between Russia and Ukraine’s Foreign Ministers failed today.
Russia’s Sergey Lavrov and Ukraine’s Dmytro Kuleba met for just 1.5 hours in Turkey.
Kuleba said Moscow’s leaders “live in their own reality” after Lavrov attempted to deny Russian attacks on civilians at a hospital.
The two sides failed to establish a 24 hour cease-fire or a humanitarian corridor in and out of the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.
Amazon Announces 20-for-1 Stock Split
Amazon (AMZN) is finally splitting its stock.
The online retail giant announced after the market close Wednesday that the board has approved a 20-for-1 stock split.
Amazon also said it will buy back $10 billion worth of stock.
AMZN shares rallied in after-market trade and are up 4.3% ahead of the open.
An Amazon spokesperson said, “This split would give our employees more flexibility in how they manage their equity in Amazon and make the share price more accessible for people looking to invest in the company.”
The stock will split after the close on June 3 and trading will begin on a split-adjusted basis on June 6.
Crowdstrike Pops on Earnings Beat, Strong Outlook
CrowdStrike (CRWD) shares are surging 11.8% in premarket trade after issuing a strong outlook.
The cybersecurity company reported fiscal Q4 adjusted earnings of $0.30 per share on $431 million in revenue.
That beat analysts’ expectations for EPS of $0.20 on $411 million in revenue.
And Crowdstrike’s forecast was way stronger than expected.
The company expects fiscal Q1 adjusted earnings between $0.22 and $0.24 per share with revenue between $458.9 million to $465.4 million.
Analysts had forecast EPS of $0.17 and revenue of $440.3 million.
Crowdstrike forecast full-year earnings ranging from $1.03 to $1.13 per share on revenue of $2.13 billion to $2.16 billion.
Wall Street was looking for EPS guidance of $0.90 and $2 billion in revenue.
In Case You Missed It
- The House passed a $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill Wednesday to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year. The final legislation did not include $15.6 billion in COVID relief Democrats had wanted but does include $13.6 billion in security and humanitarian aid for Ukraine. Congress is facing a Friday deadline to pass the bill to avoid a government shutdown. The House may pass a temporary spending plan to give the Senate more time to vote on the omnibus bill.