U.S. stocks moved higher in midday Thursday trading, while the dollar slumped against a basket of its global peers and Treasury yields eased, as global markets reacted to the potential for tri-lateral talks that could end Russia’s three-year war on Ukraine. Meta Platforms shares are on pace to snap an 18-day winning streak, one of the longest on record for a megacap tech stock, with shares edging 0.6% lower in early afternoon trading. The Facebook and Instagram parent is still up more than 20% for the year, and 36.4% over the past six months, well outpacing any advance for its Magnificent 7 peers.
A dovish read of the January report is helping stocks extend their early gains. Benchmark 2-year Treasury note yields were last marked 3 basis points lower on the session at 4.309% while 10-year notes fell 7 basis points to 4.537%. The S&P 500 was marked 14 points, or 0.24% higher in the opening minutes of trading, with the Nasdaq rising 103 points, or 0.52%.
The Dow, meanwhile, added 68 points with the mid-cap Russell 2000 rising 12 points, or 0.56% following a hotter-than-expected factory gate inflation reading. Factory gate inflation rose at a faster-than-expected pace last month, Commerce Department data indicated, with the final demand reading rising 0.4% on the month and 3.5% on the year, the hottest in nearly two years. Even taking away volatile food and energy costs, the year-on-year reading was pegged at 3.6%, well ahead of Wall Street’s 3.3% forecast.
U.S. stock trends amid global shifts
Deere & Co shares slumped lower in early trading after the world’s biggest farm equipment maker posted a disappointing set of first-quarter earnings and fretted over the impact of tariffs on its global business. Deere said revenues for the three months ending in December, its fiscal first quarter, fell 35% from the year-ago period to $6.81 billion.
President Trump posted on his verified social media account Thursday that he is ready to announce so-called ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on countries that charge duties on U.S. exports. The post pared U.S. stocks in premarket trading, with futures contracts tied to the S&P 500 now indicating a 3 point opening bell decline and those linked to the Nasdaq priced for a 15 point gain. President Donald Trump held phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy yesterday, telling reporters that both leaders are willing to begin discussions to end the conflict that has cost more than a million lives.
The prospect of talks, while vague, triggered a rally in risk assets overnight, pushing the U.S. dollar index 0.33% lower to 107.587 and sparking solid rallies in Japan, Asia, and European markets. Inflation rose to the highest monthly level since August of 2023, with core readings also rising amid soaring shelter and insurance prices. The Commerce Department will publish its January estimate of producer price inflation at 8:30 am Eastern time, with economists focused on components of the reading that feed into the Fed’s preferred PCE inflation gauge, which will be released later this month.
A market inflation gauge, which tracks the difference between 2-year inflation-protected bonds and benchmark 2-year notes, rose to the highest levels since the summer of 2022 in overnight trading. Investors are also focused on the potential for an announcement of new ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on goods from nations that charge duties on U.S. exports, which could come from the White House later today following a visit from India Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
