Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on August 12, 2025 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Stock futures slipped on Thursday after a new inflation report showed that wholesale costs rose more than expected last month.
S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.4%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 167 points, or 0.4%.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq reached fresh intraday and closing record highs on Wednesday, rising 0.3% and 0.1%, respectively. The benchmarks got a jolt this week after the release of a cooler-than-expected consumer price inflation report for July. That report stoked hopes among investors for a rate cut from the Federal Reserve at the end of its September policy meeting.
However, investors were left feeling disappointed after July’s producer price index reading indicated that such a rate cut is far from guaranteed. Wholesale prices rose 0.9% on the month, much more than the 0.2% economists polled by Dow Jones were expecting. The index had come in flat in June. Wholesale prices can be a leading indicator for consumer prices.
Some traders were looking past this PPI number because the report showed the increase was driven by a large gain in “portfolio management,” along with airfares. Without those factors the figures would have been much closer to estimates.
Despite the higher inflation number, fed funds futures were pricing in about 93% odds of a rate cut in September, only slightly lower from the day prior, according to the CME’s FedWatch tool. The futures, however, did remove any chance of a half-point cut.
Tech shares like AMD and Nvidia that have led the bull market turned lower in premarket trading following the hot inflation numbers. JPMorgan and Wells Fargo shares were also lower with the threat of higher prices hitting consumer’s wallets and lending activity.
Shares of Cisco fell 2% on the heels of the major tech company’s fourth-quarter results narrowly beating expectations. The company’s outlook was about in in line with expectations. Deere shares lost 6% on mixed full-year guidance.