Stocks dipped lower Thursday as a hotter-than-expected inflation report dimmed investor outlooks for the last quarter of the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 50 points, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite lost 0.2% and 0.05%, respectively.
Here's how the market settled on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -0.21% or -11.99 points to 5,780.05
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -0.14% or -57.88 points to 42,454.12
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -0.05% or -9.57 points to 18,282.05
Moving Markets:
Consumer Prices rose at a faster-than-expected pace in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday, as upticks in categories including clothing, car insurance and groceries offset easing prices for gasoline and housing.
The consumer price index (CPI) rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.2% on the month and 2.4% annually, both reading coming in 0.1 percentage point above Dow Jones consensus estimates. Excluding food and energy, core CPI increased 0.3% in September and 3.3% year-over-year, both readings also coming in 0.1 percentage point above expectations.
Initial Unemployment Claims reached a 14-month high for the week ended Oct. 5, the Labor Department reported Thursday, totaling 258,000 or an increase of 33,000 from the previous week; much of the gains are likely tied to the fall out of Hurricane Helene in the southern United States and Boeing's (NYSE: BA) strike in Michigan.
On the Earnings Front:
Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) shares declined Thursday after the carrier posted mixed third-quarter earnings. However, Delta expects its earnings to increase in the fourth-quarter, with its outlook stemming from strong bookings for year-end holidays. The company expects revenue to increase between 2% and 4% year-over-year for its fourth quarter, with adjusted earnings of $1.60 to $1.85 per share.
Delta also stated that the CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) outage back in July amounted to a $0.45 loss to adjusted earnings, which came in slightly below estimates at $1.50 per share for the third quarter.
"We do anticipate seeing a little choppiness around the election, which we've seen in past national elections," CEO Ed Bastian said in an interview, quoted by CNBC. "Consumers will, I think, take a little bit of pause in making investment decisions, whether its discretionary or other things. I think you're going to hear other industries talking about that as well."
FedWatch:
Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said Thursday he would consider pausing the central bank's rate cutting campaign in November, depending on the latest economic data ahead of the policy-setting meeting.
"I am totally comfortable with skipping a meeting if the data suggests that's appropriate," Bostic told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, adding that continued labor market strength suggests that the Fed maybe "should take a pause in November."
In the News:
TD Bank (NYSE: TD) pleaded guilty to criminal money laundering-related charges on Thursday, agreeing to pay roughly $3 billion in fines to the U.S. Department of Justice and other financial regulators. As part of the settlement, TD Bank will also have limits to its growth imposed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, similar to the restrictions imposed on Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) in 2018 by the Federal Reserve.
"By making its services convenient for criminals, TD Bank became one," said Attorney General Merrick Garland in a statement. "TD Bank also became the largest bank in U.S. history to plead guilty to Bank Secrecy Act program failures, adn the first U.S. bank in history to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering."
Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) shares came under pressure Thursday even as the chipmaker announced new artificial intelligence chips to better compete with Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). the company's latest version of its Instinct MI325X AI chip, which it plans to begin mass producing in the fourth quarter, is designed to speed up the data sharing process between chips and systems. AMD also announced plans to release its next-gen MI350 series chips, which provide better memory and improve performance over the MI300X and MI250X, in the second half of 2025.
For Friday:
Investors will turn their attention towards the "official" start of the third-quarter earnings season on Friday with reports including JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) and Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK). Friday will also host September's producer price index (PPI) reading as well as October's preliminary consumer sentiment reading.