Opening Comment — Wednesday, January 14, 2026
DJIA: 49,191.99, down 398.21
S&P 500: 6,963.74, down 13.53
NASDAQ: 23,709.87, down 24.03
Stocks lower ahead of PPI data
Stock futures are lower Wednesday morning ahead of today’s Producer Price Index (PPI) for November, along with December’s existing home sales and November’s retail sales. As of 6:46 AM ET, the Dow is decreasing 0.3%, while the S&P 500 is down 0.4%. The Nasdaq 100 is falling 0.6% relative to fair value on the GLOBEX.
U.S. equities were lower on Tuesday as the headline Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose as expected in December, with inflation rate coming in at 0.3% month-over-month (MOM) and 2.7% year-over-year (YOY). The core CPI (which excludes food and energy) came in cooler than anticipated, rising by 0.2% MOM and 2.6% YOY. The Dow was down 0.8%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.1%. The S&P 500 decreased 0.2% with four of 11 sectors finishing in negative territory. The Energy sector was the top performer, rising 1.5%, while the Financials sector was the bottom performer, falling 1.8%.
On the data front, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s gauge of mortgage applications increased by 28.5% for the week ending January 9 versus the prior week’s increase of 0.3%. The headline PPI for November is expected to show price increases of 0.2% MOM and 2.7% YOY, respectively. The core PPI, which excludes volatile components like food and energy, is also expected to show price increases of 0.2% MOM and 2.7% YOY, respectively. Retail sales are expected to have risen 0.5% MOM in November versus the prior month’s little change, while retail sales excluding autos are forecasted to have risen 0.4% MOM, similar to the prior month’s increase. The U.S. current account balance for the third quarter is expected to show a deficit of $238 billion, compared to the previous quarter’s deficit of $251.3 billion. Existing home sales are forecasted to have been at an annualized 4.22 million pace in December versus the prior month’s 4.13 million pace, corresponding to an increase of 2.2% MOM versus the prior month’s increase of 0.5%. Business inventories are expected to have increased by 0.1% MOM in October versus the prior month’s increase of 0.2%. The Department of Energy’s measure of crude oil inventories is expected to have decreased by 1.68 million barrels for the week ending January 9 versus the prior week’s decrease of 3.83 million barrels.
Across the pond, European stocks are mixed in mid-day trading as investors await November’s economic data from the U.K. out tomorrow, including monthly gross domestic product, the trade deficit, and industrial production.
Overnight in Asia, stocks were mostly higher as China’s trade surplus widened less than forecasted in December, following both imports and exports registering greater-than-expected increases. South Korea’s Export Price Index registered increases of 1.1% MOM and 5.5% YOY in December, while the Import Price Index rose by 0.7% MOM and 0.3% YOY. Meanwhile, the country’s unemployment rate rose to 4.0% in December, against forecasts for no change. Japan’s preliminary machine tool orders rose by 10.6% YOY for December.
In FOREX trading, , the U.S. dollar is slightly lower ahead of today’s U.S. PPI data.
Over in the commodity pits, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is 1.4% higher at $62.02/barrel following today’s expected decline in reported U.S. crude oil inventories.
In the metals complex, gold is 1.0% higher at $4,630.99/ounce following a weakening U.S. dollar.