The slump in stock futures; Interest rate inflation

Stock futures fell Wednesday as investors reflected on the last round of earnings and ongoing inflation worldwide.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are down by 172 points, or 0.5%, while S&P futures are down by 0.6%. Nasdaq 100 futures are down by 0.6%.

Bond yield rose overnight, weighing on stock futures as UK inflation rose by 10.1% yearly, beating expectations. The 2-year Treasury yield solicited 4.3% as investors bet the US Federal Reserve will have to hike the rate at least once more at its May 3 meeting.

The streaming giant Netflix disappointed investors after rejecting plans to tighten password-sharing restrictions. In the most recent quarter, the company beat analysts’ earnings per share expected but was lower than revenue estimates. Netflix added 1.75 million subscribers last quarter, more than Street had anticipated. At the beginning of the trading phase, the stock fell slightly.

Trading was fragile this week as traders’ prices in earnings grew. The S&P 500 was up by 0.09% on Tuesday, while the Dow Jones was down by 0.03% or 10.55 points. The Nasdaq Composite closed slightly down 0.04%.

Looking ahead, Morgan Stanley will release its latest earnings results on Wednesday morning, while electric vehicle giant Tesla must file a report after the closing bell.

Malaysia’s total trade stood at RM234.7 billion ($52.51 billion), 1.6% lower than the total value of RM236.5 billion recorded in the same month last year. While the country’s export fell by 1.4% year-on-year to RM129.7 billion in March, less than economists had expected of a 3.5% decline, imports surprisingly recorded a decline of 1.8% to RM103 billion compared to a 1.9% growth expected.

UK stocks

UK inflation unexpectedly took place above 10% in March, feeding expectations that the Bank of England will increase at its meeting in May by 25-basis points after pay growth is lowered by less than expected.

The consumer price index was reduced to 10.1%, from 10.4% in February, but ahead of the drop to 9.8% expected by economists surveyed by Reuters.

The declines were driven by fuel, housing, and domestic services, while food and leisure/culture prices became more expensive.

Prices increased monthly by 0.8%. Core CPI, excluding energy and food, remained flat at 5.7%.