Stock futures were calm on Wednesday after Wall Street saw the S&P 500 close at a fresh high. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 41 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq-100 futures were flat. The S&P 500 rallied more than 1% in the previous session, along with the Nasdaq Composite after February U.S. inflation data came in about in line with expectations. “We don’t think it is going to be the Fed that kills this economic cycle. Ultimately what determines the end of this expansion is going to be based on whether we have some kind of shock … Otherwise, you can be in what we would consider late cycle for a considerable amount of time,” Gabriela Santos, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.” The bull market for stocks has shown signs of broadening out in recent weeks, but chipmaker Nvidia still remains a key bellwether. Shares of Nvidia rose more than 7% on Tuesday, erasing nearly all of their losses from the prior two sessions and bringing the year to date gain to about 86%. U.S. Treasury yields were little changed on Wednesday as investors considered the latest inflation data and weighed the state of the economy. The yield on the 10-year Treasury 1 basis point higher at 4.164%. The 2-year Treasury yield was last at 4.61% after also rising by less than 1 basis point. Asia-Pacific markets were mixed after Wall Street jumped overnight, following U.S. inflation data that largely met expectations. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 ended the day up 0.22% at 7,729.40, extending gains from Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 reversed gains to fall 0.26%, closing at 38,695.97 and extending its losing streak to a third straight day, while the broad-based Topix also dropped 0.33% to 2,648.51 after logging gains early in the session. South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.44% to 2,693.57 after its February unemployment rate came in at 2.6%, down from January’s figure of 3%. The small-cap Kosdaq ended marginally up at 889.93, snapping three days of gains. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was flat, after notching a rise of over 3% on Tuesday, with the mainland CSI 300 ended down 0.7% at 3,572.36. Oil prices rose on Wednesday on expectations of strong global demand, including in the world’s top consumer the United States, and as even somewhat sticky U.S. inflation did not dent expectations the Fed might start cutting rates soon. Brent futures for May delivery were up 36 cents, or 0.44%, at $82.28 a barrel by 0020 GMT. The April U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude contract rose 38 cents, or 0.49%, to $77.94. Gold prices rose on Wednesday, after posting their biggest drop in a month in the previous session, as sticky U.S. inflation raised concerns that the Federal Reserve might delay going for an interest rate cut beyond June. Spot gold edged 0.3% up to $2,162.81 per ounce. U.S. gold futures climbed nearly 0.1% to $2,168.5.
Roodeweg 222, Willemstad, Curaçao