U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open Wednesday as investors pondered the outlook for interest rates after consumer price data showed inflation picked up last month.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 (^GSPC) slipped 0.2%, while futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) ticked down about 30 points, or 0.1%. Contracts on the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) were off by roughly the same margin.
Airbnb (ABNB) was in the spotlight after the lodging company reported record profit in the fourth quarter, notching its first profitable year in 2022. Executives also unveiled a better-than-expected forecast for the current quarter, citing strong post-pandemic travel demand. Shares soared 9% in pre-market trading.
Tesla's (TSLA) stock advanced 2% ahead of the open after chief executive Elon Musk said he plans to appoint a new CEO to Twitter, the social media platform he acquired last year, by year-end.
Separately, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday that the electric vehicle maker is expected to partially pause production at its China factory for upgrades to the facility to make a refreshed version of its Model 3 car.
Devon Energy Corporation (DVN) shares fell pre-market after the company said fourth-quarter profit was dented by the impact of Winter Storm Elliot on its oil and gas wells.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 14: People walk by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on February 14, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
In other areas of the market, bond yields moved higher Wednesday, with the rate-sensitive two-year Treasury yield approaching the highest since November, according to Bloomberg data. The U.S. dollar index also climbed against other currencies.
The moves on Wednesday come after a volatile previous session that saw all three major averages end the day around flat after January's Consumer Price Index (CPI) came in both hot and cold.
CPI rose 0.5% in the first month of the year, an acceleration from the prior month, and 6.4% on an annual basis, a small move lower from the previous year-over-year print. Core CPI, which strips out the volatile food and energy components of the report, climbed 0.4% over the prior month and 5.6% year-over-year, also higher than forecast.
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"There are more and more signs of the market pricing the no landing scenario where the economy remains strong, and inflation remains sticky and persistent," Apollo Global Management chief economist Torsten Slok said in a Wdnesday note, adding that one-year breakeven inflation expectations are approaching 3%, spurred higher by strong January employment data and Tuesday's CPI report.
"In response to this, the Fed will have to be more hawkish to ensure that inflation expectations do not drift too far away from the FOMC’s 2% inflation target," Slok added.
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Alexandra Semenova is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alexandraandnyc
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This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform.