U.S. Stocks Rally Even As Producer Prices Rise More Than Expected

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading day on Thursday, extending the significant recovery from the sell-off seen early in Wednesday's session. The major averages all showed strong moves to the upside, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the charge.

The major averages saw continued strength going into the close, ending the day near their high of the session. The Nasdaq surged 295.69 points or 1.5 percent to 19,945.64, the S&P 500 jumped 63.10 points or 1.0 percent to 6,115.07 and the Dow advanced 342.87 points or 0.8 percent at 44,711.43.

The rally on Wall Street came after the Labor Department released its report on producer price inflation in the month of January.

While the headline number rose by more than expected, components of the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation reading were relatively tame.

The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand rose by 0.4 percent in January after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.5 percent in December.

Economists had expected producer prices to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.2 percent uptick originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the report said the annual rate of producer price growth in January was unchanged from an upwardly revised 3.5 percent in December.

The annual rate of producer price growth was expected to slow to 3.2 percent from the 3.3 percent originally reported for the previous month.

"As in the CPI report, a big increase in energy prices and eggs pushed up the PPI in January," said Bill Adams, Chief Economist for Comerica Bank. "There was also a big upward contributions from hotel and motel rates."

He added, "However, the PPI also saw flat or negative readings on most types of healthcare services, which points to a cooler core PCE inflation report for January than the month's core CPI, which rose 0.4%."

A separate report released by the Labor Department showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by slightly more than expected in the week ended February 8th.

Stocks saw further upside after President Donald Trump signed a memorandum calling on members of his administration to review plans for reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trade partners but stopped short of imposing the tariffs.

Sector News

Computer hardware stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index soaring by 4.5 percent to its highest closing level in almost seven months.

Significant strength was also visible among telecom stocks, as reflected by the 2.7 percent surge by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index. With the jump, the index reached a two-month closing high.

Biotechnology, brokerage and semiconductor stocks also saw considerable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index jumped by 1.3 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index declined by 0.4 percent.

Meanwhile, European stocks moved mostly higher on the day. The German DAX Index surged by 2.1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.5 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the uptrend and fell by 0.5 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries showed a strong move back to the upside following yesterday's slump. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, plunged 11.2 basis points to 4.525 percent.

Looking Ahead

Trading on Friday may be impacted by reaction to reports on U.S. retail sales, import and export prices and industrial production.