Opening Comment — Wednesday, July 15, 2026
DJIA: 52,508.27, up 9.63
S&P 500: 7,543.59, up 28.25
NASDAQ: 26,107.01, up 233.83
Stocks higher ahead of PPI data
Stock futures are mostly higher Wednesday morning ahead of today’s June Producer Price Index (PPI) data. Investors are closely monitoring developments in the Iran war and will be watching today’s testimony from Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Kevin Warsh before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. As of 7:23 AM ET, the Dow is little changed, while the S&P 500 is up 0.1%. The Nasdaq 100 is increasing 0.5% relative to fair value on the GLOBEX.
U.S. equities were mostly higher on Tuesday as June’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) came in softer than forecasted, with the year-over-year (YOY) rate easing to 3.5% as prices fell 0.4% month-over-month (MOM). Meanwhile, core CPI was flat MOM in June and cooled to 2.6% YOY. Investors also assessed Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's testimony before the House Financial Services Committee for insights into the Fed's policy outlook. The Dow was little changed, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.9%. The S&P 500 increased 0.4% with six of 11 sectors finishing in positive territory. The Information Technology sector was the top performer, rising 1.3%, while the Health Care sector was the bottom performer, falling 1.9%.
On the data front, the Mortgage Banker Association’s gauge of mortgage applications fell by 2.7% for the week ending July 10 versus the prior week’s decrease of 2.2%. The New York Fed will release their Empire Manufacturing Survey for July, with the headline general business conditions index expected to rise to 9.2 from the prior month’s 5.7. The headline PPI for June is expected to show little change MOM and increase of 6.2% YOY versus the prior month’s increases of 1.1% and 6.5%, respectively. The core PPI, which excludes volatile components like food and energy, is expected to show price increases of 0.3% MOM and 5.1% YOY versus the prior month’s increases of 0.4% and 4.9%, respectively. The Department of Energy’s measure of crude oil inventories is expected to decline by 1.824 million barrels for the week ending July 10 versus the prior week’s decline of 2.998 million barrels. The Fed will release their Beige Book survey of regional economic conditions.
Across the pond, European stocks are lower in mid-day trading as the eurozone’s industrial production showed an unexpected decline of 0.2% MOM and a greater-than-expected decline of 1.2% YOY in May.
Overnight in Asia, stocks were mostly higher as China’s second-quarter gross domestic product showed growth easing to 0.9% quarter-over-quarter and 4.3% YOY. The country’s June retail sales unexpectedly rose 1.0% YOY and its industrial production showed a greater-than-expected increase of 5.3% YOY in June. China’s June fixed-asset investment fell 5.7% YOY, while the June surveyed jobless rate ticked down to 5.0%. South Korea’s Export Price Index showed little change MOM and increased 48.9% YOY in June, while the country’s unemployment rate ticked down to 2.7% in June. Meanwhile, Japan’s Tertiary (services) Industry Index showed a greater-than-expected increase of 1.1% MOM in May, compared to prior month’s revised increase of 0.8%. The country’s core machine orders for May decreased by 12.4% MOM and 1.9% YOY.
In FOREX trading, the U.S. dollar is slightly higher ahead of today’s U.S. PPI data release.
Over in the commodity pits, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is 0.9% higher at $80.06/barrel following the latest U.S. strikes on Iran.
In the metals complex, gold is 0.5% lower at $4,030.86/ounce following a strengthening U.S. dollar.