Trading Education U.S. Stock Futures Extend Losses After Data (NYSE)
U.S. stock-index futures extended losses after government data showed that jobless claims increased last week and consumer inflation accelerated more than forecast.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 2.4 percent to 1,161.20 at 8:34 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures decreased 2.1 percent to 11,147.
Futures extended losses after jobless claims climbed by 9,000 to 408,000 in the week ended Aug. 13, the highest in a month, Labor Department figures showed. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected a rise in claims to 400,000, according to the median forecast. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls rose, while those receiving extended payments fell.
The consumer-price index increased 0.5 percent from June, more than twice the 0.2 percent median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, figures from the Labor Department showed today in Washington. The so-called core gauge, which excludes volatile food and fuel costs, rose 0.2 percent.
The S&P 500 has fallen 12 percent from a three-year high on April 29 amid concern about Europe’s debt crisis and an economic slowdown.
U.S. stocks may slip to new lows in the next few weeks, setting the stage for a rally of more than 20 percent in the S&P 500, Tom DeMark, the creator of indicators meant to identify turning points in markets, said in an Aug. 16 interview.
The S&P 500, which closed at 1,193.89 yesterday, will probably drop below the 11-month low of 1,119.46 set on Aug. 8 before surging above 1,363.61, its peak on April 29, according to DeMark.
Most U.S. stocks declined yesterday, wiping out an earlier advance, as Dell Inc. forecast weaker sales and two Federal Reserve officials expressed concern about the amount of stimulus being applied to the economy.
The S&P 500 rose as much as 28 percent after Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke foreshadowed on Aug. 27 of last year a second round of so-called quantitative easing. The central bank finished the program of asset purchases at the end of June. Bernanke may announce policy intentions at a conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Aug. 26.