Stocks break two-day winning streak as inflation concerns persist

U.S. stocks dropped on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and Dow giving back gains after rising for back-to-back sessions. The S&P 500 fell over 1% on Wednesday, while the Dow and S&P 500 both lost more than 0.7%. The small-cap Russell 2000 was the day’s biggest laggard, falling over 1.5% at session lows. All three major averages had kicked off this week with gains, rising on both Monday and Tuesday. West Texas intermediate crude oil prices (CL=F) rose above $122 per barrel to reach the highest level since February, and the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield resumed its climb above 3%. Shares of Scott’s Miracle-Gro Company (SMG) sank after the company became one of the latest retailers to slash guidance after building more inventory than its end users were demanding. Individual gainers on Wednesday included streaming company Roku (ROKU), which gained over 9% following a report from Insider that suggested Netflix (NFLX) could explore a bid for the company. Spotify (SPOT) shares also gained over 6% after the company’s investor day. Despite the early-week advances, the major U.S. stock indexes have remained choppy overall as investors weighed individual company warnings on inflation and the macroeconomic backdrop against policymakers’ efforts to bring down elevated prices. The Federal Reserve remains in a quiet period ahead of its forthcoming policy-setting meeting next week, which is overwhelmingly expected to set the stage for the central bank to roll out a second 50 basis-point interest rate hike. And other policymakers also reaffirmed that cooling red-hot inflation pressures remains a key priority. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told senators on Tuesday that she expected inflation to remain high and reaffirmed that she saw price increases as being driven by Russia’s war in Ukraine, the pandemic-era shift to goods purchases, and ongoing supply chain issues. “Watching the market … as it teeters between inching ahead and pulling back, suggests that until there’s a more definitive reading on the inflation front coupled with the Fed’s thinking on further rate hikes in September, we can expect this bounce back and forth,” Quincy Krosby, chief equity strategist for LPL Financial, said in an email. “Given the uncertainty the market has to discount, and not the least how corporate earnings will fare as the economy slows further, having a market that wobbles a bit before it makes up its mind is probably the healthiest course, at least for now,” Krosby added. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is poised to release its latest Consumer Price Index on Friday, which is expected to show inflation eased only marginally in May from April’s elevated 8.3% rate. Consensus economists are looking for headline inflation to rise at a 8.2% annual rate for May, and by 5.9% excluding food and energy prices.