Markets today: PPI and retail sales meet a tech selloff

Producer prices and retail sales both hit at 8:30 a.m. ET, the two releases the session leans on. They arrive the morning after the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.88%, a decline that ran well ahead of the Dow’s. Inflation was the loudest theme on the overnight wires. The producer-price index is seen at 0.5% on the month against 0.4% prior, and retail sales are penciled at 0.3% after last month’s 1.2% jump. Fed Chair Warsh speaks Friday. The data does not let up after today.

On the calendar today

The 8:30 batch runs deep. Producer prices lead at 0.5% monthly versus 0.4% prior, with core PPI at 0.3% against 0.2%. Retail sales are forecast at 0.3% after that 1.2% gain; stripping out autos, the figure is seen at 0.5% from 1.4%, and the control group that feeds GDP at 0.3% off the same 1.4%. Weekly jobless claims are pegged at 200,000 versus 197,000. Two regional factory gauges land at the same hour, with the Empire State index at 10.3 from 7.6 and the Philadelphia Fed index at 28.4 from 37.8. Business inventories follow at 10:00 a.m. ET, seen at 0.4% after 0.8%. The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow estimate is due at 11:00 a.m. ET, holding at 3.6%. The weekly EIA petroleum report lands at noon, with crude inventories seen down 0.3 million barrels after a 3.2 million draw. Fed’s Hammack speaks at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Reporting today

The Charles Schwab Corporation reports before the open. It is the session’s main earnings event.

Backdrop

Stocks fell hard on Wednesday. The S&P 500 closed at 7,718.94, down 1.11%. The Nasdaq Composite led the slide, settling at 26,692.87, off 1.88%, while the Dow held up better at 51,621.48, down 0.09%. The VIX rose 2.85% to 17.35. The 10-year Treasury yield eased three basis points to 5.21%, even as stocks fell.

The week ahead

• Friday: Fed Chair Warsh is scheduled to speak, the week’s marquee central-bank appearance.
• Tuesday: Housing starts and building permits both land at 8:30 a.m. ET, each a high-importance read; starts ran at a 1.275 million annual rate last time and permits at 1.403 million. GE Aerospace, Netflix and RTX Corporation all report.

What to watch

The 8:30 print. Two high-importance reads hit together. Retail sales give the cleanest read on the consumer, and the PPI adds to the week’s run of inflation data. The cross-asset move in yields and index futures right after the release sets the tone for the cash session.

Schwab’s quarter. The brokerage reports before the open, and its asset-gathering and net-interest-income trends give the morning its main company read.

The tech tape. Wednesday’s drop was concentrated in the Nasdaq. The Dow’s 0.09% dip shows how uneven the session was. A VIX close at 17.35 marks where the nervousness sits as the data arrives.

This is a general-market summary for information only — not investment advice, and not a recommendation regarding any security.