By Peter Nurse
Investing.com -- U.S. stocks are seen opening lower Thursday, continuing the previous session’s sharp selloff with investors worried that persistent and elevated inflation will result in severe monetary policy tightening.
At 7 AM ET (1100 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was down 120 points, or 0.4%, S&P 500 Futures traded 20 points, or 0.5%, lower, and Nasdaq 100 Futures dropped 90 points, or 0.8%.
The main equity indices on Wall Street closed sharply lower on Wednesday as data showed that U.S. inflation was still running red hot, and this negative tone is expected to continue Thursday.
The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed over 300 points, or 1%, lower, the broad-based S&P 500 fell 1.7% to its lowest level this year, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped a hefty 3.2%, now down over 27% year-to-date.
These moves followed the release of U.S. consumer price index for April which showed price increases have slowed marginally but are still at the elevated levels that has prompted speculation that the Federal Reserve could act more aggressively to raise rates at upcoming meetings.
Focus turns Thursday to the April producer price index, which is expected to also show a slowdown in the growth of input costs for businesses, and the new jobless claims for last week, which should confirm a robust jobs market.
In the corporate sector, Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) will be in the spotlight with its stock almost 5% lower premarket after the entertainment giant added more subscribers than main rival Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) but new skepticism about the streaming business weighed.
On a more positive note, Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ:RIVN) stock rose 5.5% premarket after the electric-vehicle maker reaffirmed its annual production forecast of 25,000 units despite ongoing supply chain disruptions, while Bumble (NASDAQ:BMBL) stock rose over 7% premarket after the dating app reported strong revenue growth in the first quarter as it grew to 3 million paying users.
Earnings from the likes of Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM), Poshmark (NASDAQ:POSH), and Toast (NYSE:TOST) are also expected after the bell.
Oil prices slipped lower Thursday after the International Energy Agency rowed back on its previous claim that lower output from sanctions-hit Russia could result in a possible "global supply shock."
The Paris-based agency stated that production ramping up elsewhere and slower demand growth due to China's lockdowns will prevent a big deficit, noting only 1 million barrels per day had gone offline in April, considerably lower than the 3 million barrels it predicted last month.
By 7 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 1.3% lower at $104.36 a barrel, while the Brent contract fell 1.3% to $106.09.
Additionally, gold futures fell 0.4% to $1,847.05/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.7% lower at 1.0436.