By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - U.S. stock futures traded steady in early APAC deals on Thursday, following modest gains during Wednesday’s session as the U.S. consumer price index surged to 7% on a yearly basis, in line with expectations, posting the fastest increase since June 1982 amid shortages of goods and workers and following unprecedented cash stimulus measures from Congress and the Federal Reserve.
During Wednesday’s regular session, The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped about 38 points or 0.11% to 36290.33, the S&P 500 added 13.28 points or 0.28% to 4726.36 and the Nasdaq Composite rose for the third straight day, climbing 34.94 points or 0.23% to 15188.39.
Dow Jones Futures were up 0.05%, S&P 500 Futures added 0.03% and Nasdaq 100 Futures were flat.
Among stocks, major tech players finished mixed, with Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) up 0.26%, Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) added 1.21% and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) up 1.04%, while Block Inc (NYSE:SQ) fell 2%, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) eased 0.09%, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:FB) lost 0.33% and Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) dipped 1%.
EV makers rallied, as Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) gained 3.93%, Rivian Automotive Inc (NASDAQ:RIVN) lifted 3.51% while Lucid Group Inc (NASDAQ:LCID) slipped 0.1%.
Financial stocks finished mostly higher, as JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) added 0.57%, Citizens Financial Group Inc (NYSE:CFG) gained 1.23%, Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) was up 0.25% and Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) added 0.61%, while Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) lost 0.71%.
Shares of homebuilder KB Home (NYSE:KBH) rallied more than 6% in after hours trading after reporting better-than-expected earnings.
Investors will be closely monitoring the Producer Price Index print due later in the session, while fourth quarter earnings season kicks off with Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE:DAL) set to report later in the session, while major banks are due to report on Friday.