U.S. stocks traded lower on Wednesday as investors digested the newly released inflation numbers for the month of October that showed inflation reaching its highest level since 1990. The Dow lost 42 points, or 0.12% mid-morning, as the S&P 500 lost 0.12% and the Nasdaq Composite Index traded down 58 points, or 0.37%.
The U.S. Consumer Price Index rose 6.2% in October, worse than expected. Experts had estimated that CPI would rise by 5.9% in October. The CPI for September was at 5.4%.
Inflation above 5% has become the norm in recent weeks, despite politicians attempt to define rising prices as simply “transitory.”
Meanwhile, wholesale prices are also spiking. They rose a record 8.6% in October. This is significant as, eventually, sellers are expected to pass down their increased costs onto their consumers.
Weekly jobless claims fell at a pandemic low of 267,000. Still, they fell short of the expected 260,000. Unemployment claims had been at 269,000 in the week prior. The numbers suggest a tight labor market.
U.S. Dollar and Treasuries
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose three basis points. The dollar strengthened against a basket of major currencies.
| Price | Chg. | Chg. % | |
| U.S. Dollar Index (DXY): | 94.26 | +0.31 | +0.32% |
| Yield | Change | Previous close | |
| U.S. 1 Year Treasury Bill | 0.152% | 0.015 | 0.138% |
| U.S. 5 Year Treasury Note | 1.145% | 0.060 | 1.085% |
| U.S. 10 Year Treasury Note | 1.480% | 0.034 | 1.441% |
Stocks To Watch
Shares of a data analytics company Palantir (PLTR) dropped after growth in government contracts slows. Governments are the largest buyers of the company’s services.
Tesla (TSLA) traded higher after falling 11.99% on Tuesday. Shares are volatile as a result of Elon Musk’s announcement that he will sell 10% of his shares to pay capital gains taxes.
Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) corrected slightly after jumping 14.97% in the past five days. The stock has benefited from the company’s focus on the Metaverse.
Upstart Holdings (UPST), a company that uses AI in consumer lending dropped more than 50% in trading Wednesday, despite an earnings beat. The company reported a revenue of $0.60 vs an estimated $0.35. The drop may be influenced by the recent housing giant Zillow announcement. Zillow closed its AI-assisted housing arbitrage business, after writing off $300 million in losses.
| Symbol | Company Name | Price | Chg. % | |
| PLTR | Palantir Technologies Inc. | $23.06 | -4.91% | |
| TSLA | Tesla Inc. | $1,073 | +4.80% | |
| NVDA | NVIDIA Corp. | $302.78 | -1.24% | |
| UPST | Upstart Holdings Inc. | $255.21 | -58.86 |
Commodities To Watch
Oil was stable ahead of the U.S. inventory report. Gold strengthened to $1860.50 an ounce on high U.S. inflation numbers.
| Resource | Price | Chg. % |
| WTI Crude Oil | $83.67 | -0.57% |
| Brent Crude Oil | $84.52 | -0.31% |
| Natural Gas | $4.933 | -2.70% |
| Gold | $1,860.50 | 1.62% |
| Silver | $25.15 | 3.42% |
| Copper | $4.36 | -0.09% |
Crypto
The global crypto market cap is $2.92T. Bitcoin’s dominance is currently 43.41%, a decrease of 0.16% in the same period.
| Currency | Symbol | Price | Chg. % | |
| Bitcoin | BTC | $68, 475.77 | +2.20% | |
| Etherium | ETH | $4,834.33 | +0.48% | |
| Cardano | ADA | $2.26 | -2.15% | |
| Ripple | XRP | $1.31 | +5.57 | |
| Dogecoin | DOGE | $0.2722 | -0.92 |
