[New York Stock Exchange] April PPI Surges... Market Opens Mixed

Growing Inflation Concerns
Brent Crude Declines

The U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) for April significantly exceeded expectations, leading the three major U.S. stock indexes to start mixed on May 13 (local time). Investor sentiment weakened due to concerns that corporate costs are rising as a result of the war in Iran, which could be passed on to consumer prices.

According to the Home Trading System (HTS), as of 9:42 a.m. on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 297.68 points (0.59%) from the previous trading day, standing at 49,463.88. The large-cap S&P 500 Index had fallen 9.06 points (0.12%) to 7,391.90, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Index was up 49.21 points (0.18%) at 26,137.42.

The market reacted sensitively to the PPI that day. According to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, the PPI for April rose 1.4% from the previous month. This is the highest monthly increase in four years since March 2022 (1.7%), and it significantly surpassed expert forecasts (0.5%). On a year-on-year basis, the increase was 6.0%, the highest since December 2022 (6.3%).

The core PPI, which excludes the volatile energy, food, and trading prices, rose 0.6% from the previous month, also surpassing expert expectations (0.3%). Compared to the same period last year, it increased by 4.4%.

Chris Rupkey, Chief Economist at FWDBONDS, said, "Federal Reserve (Fed) officials can do nothing but sigh after seeing today's report," adding, "Regardless of who the Fed Chair is, and no matter how much the economic team of a second Trump administration may want to raise interest rates, this is not the time for the central bank to consider rate hikes."

Rupkey added, "Producers are experiencing higher inflation, which means that consumers will soon feel higher inflation as well."

Most of the top market cap stocks are falling. Microsoft is down 1.51%, Amazon 0.62%, Alphabet 0.12%, TSMC 0.90%, Broadcom 2.15%, and Meta 0.47%. On the other hand, Nvidia is up 2.21%, Apple 0.78%, and Tesla 0.76%.

International oil prices are also mixed. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for June delivery is trading at $102.56 per barrel, up 0.32% from the previous session. On the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent crude for July delivery is at $107.34 per barrel, down 0.41% from the previous session.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.