T3 Live
Shares

Coffee With Greta: Wholesale Inflation Tumbles

Shares

DJIA Futures: +57 (+0.2%)

SPX Futures: +11 (+0.3%)

NASDAQ Futures: +58 (+0.5%)

Good morning friends!

Futures are rising as another report points to cooling inflation pressures.

Let’s get right to it!

Wholesale Inflation Tumbles

Wholesale inflation pressures unexpectedly dropped in March. 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ producer price index fell 0.5% monthly and rose just 2.7% year over year. 

That was better than expectations for the index to be unchanged on a monthly basis and a sharp slowdown from the 4.9% annual gain in February. 

It was the largest drop in 3 years, driven mostly by lower energy prices.

Energy prices tumbled 6.4% last month while food prices rose 0.6%. 

The core PPI, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.1% monthly and 3.6% annually last month vs expectations for a 0.3% monthly increase. 

The data points to cooling inflation pressures for Americans as producers pass down price changes to consumers. 

Weekly Jobless Claims Rise

Weekly jobless claims rose more than expected last week, a sign the labor market is continuing to cool. 

The Labor Department reported 239,000 Americans filed initial unemployment claims. 

That was up by 11,000 from the previous week and higher than 232,000 expected. 

But claims still remain below the 270,000 level which economists say would signal a deterioration in the labor market. 

Continuing jobless claims fell by 13,000 to 1.81 million in the week ending April 1. 

Delta Jumps On Strong Outlook

Delta Airlines (DAL) shares are rising 2.6% ahead of the open despite missing Q1 expectations on the top and bottom line. 

Here’s how the airline’s results compared to analysts’ estimates: 

  • Adjusted EPS: $0.25 vs $0.30 expected
  • Adjusted revenue: $11.84 billion vs $11.99 billion expected

But Delta’s Q2 forecast was better than expected, signaling strong travel demand. 

The airline expects Q2 sales to increase 15% to 17% year over year with adjusted EPS between $2 and $2.25.

That topped analysts’ estimates for revenue growth of 14.7% and EPS of $1.66. 

Delta said it expects “record advance bookings for the summer.”

That strong outlook is also boosting other airlines in premarket trade with United Airlines (UAL) shares up 2.8% and American Airlines (AAL) shares up 2.0%.

In Case You Missed It

  • The Fed’s March meeting minutes were released on Wednesday and showed officials expect the U.S. economy to fall into a “mild recession” later this year due to the banking crisis. The minutes also showed several members were leaning toward a 50 basis point rate hike at the last meeting prior to the banking problems. Officials said inflation is still “much too high” but stressed they will remain data-dependent in upcoming meetings. 
  • American Airlines (AAL) shares tumbled 9.2% on Wednesday after the company updated its Q1 forecast. American said it expects to report Q1 adjusted EPS between $0.01 and $0.05. That was better than the previous outlook for earnings to break even but below analysts’ estimates of $0.06. 

Leave a Comment: