Futures point to more losses
Wall Street futures sank early Thursday, suggesting that the sell-off triggered by the inflation fears in the previous session is not over yet.
As of 5:00 a.m. ET, Dow futures dipped 203.5 points, or 0.61% to 33,304.5. S&P 500 futures shed 16.37 points, or 0.40% to 4,042.38 while the tech-focused Nasdaq 100 futures gave away 41.25 points, or 0.32% to 12,957.25.
All three major U.S. stock market indices plunged on Wednesday after the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed consumer prices rose 4.2% over the 12 months ended April, far higher than the 3.6% economists had forecast.
Consumer prices rose by 0.8% in April alone, well above expectations of 0.2%.
Jobless claims, PPI data on tap
Traders are also awaiting more economic data today, with the U.S. Department of Labor scheduled to publish its weekly report on initial jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Economists polled by Bloomberg expect 490,000 unemployment claims were filed in the week ended May 8. The department reported 498,000 initial claims during the prior week.
Continue claims are seen coming in at 3.65 million, down from the 3.69 million reported a week ago.
Producer Price Index (PPI) reading for April is also due at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Bitcoin crumbles after Elon Musk says Tesla won’t accept it as payment
Bitcoin price is also tumbling this morning following Elon Musk’s tweet that Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) customers will no longer be able to use the cryptocurrency as payment for its electric vehicles.
The tech mogul tweeted late Wednesday that his company has “suspended vehicle purchase using bitcoin,” citing concerns over “ rapidly increasing use of fossil fuel” for mining the cryptocurrency.
At the time of writing, the price of bitcoin was down nearly 12%, pushing it to $50,900, based on Coindesk data.
Tesla disclosed in a regulatory filing earlier this year that it had bought bitcoin worth $1.5 billion and indicated it may put more money in bitcoin and other digital currencies in the future.
Disney, Airbnb, Alibaba, earnings eyed
Meanwhile, Disney (NYSE: DIS) will be in focus today as the entertainment and media conglomerate prepares to announces its second-quarter financial results after the closing bell.
Analysts expect the company post earnings of 28 cents per share and revenue of $15.87 billion.
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is seen reporting quarterly earnings of $1.79 per share and sales of $28.11 billion ahead of the market open.
Other key earnings to watch today include Airbnb (NASDAQ: ABNB), Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN), and Aurora Cannabis (NYSE: ACB).
