Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:
1. Looking down
Stocks took a dive Wednesday after March inflation data came in hotter than expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.09%, the S&P 500 dropped 0.95% and the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 0.84% for the day. The drops came after the consumer price index increased 0.4% in March and 3.5% year over year, versus increase estimates of 0.3% and 3.4%, respectively. Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, accelerated 0.4% from the previous month while rising 3.8% from a year ago, compared with estimates for 0.3% and 3.7%, respectively. Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury yield, a benchmark for mortgage and other loans, soared back above 4.5% after the inflation report. Follow live market updates.
2. Fed up
Federal Reserve members want to feel more confident that inflation is easing and moving toward a 2% target. At their March meeting, where the central bank opted to keep interest rates the same, policymakers apparently had a long discussion about rising costs, touching on geopolitical turmoil and higher energy prices. The Fed still plans to cut rates from the current benchmark rate between 5.25%-5.5% at some point this year, but inflation has been running hotter than many members would like. In other Fed news, the CME Group's FedWatch tool, which analyzes the probability of rate changes for upcoming meetings, moved dramatically after the CPI release came out Wednesday morning. Traders now think there's a slim chance that there will be a rate cut at the June meeting, which had previously been favored.
3. Jassy's letter
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy released his annual shareholder letter early Thursday morning, saying he's committed to cost cutting even as the company keeps investing in new growth areas like artificial intelligence. It's his third letter since he took the top job after former CEO Jeff Bezos stepped down in 2021. Under his leadership, Amazon has become leaner and turned away from the relentless growth Bezos pursued. From the end of 2022 through 2023, Amazon enacted the largest layoffs in the company's history, cutting more than 27,000 jobs.
4. Trump Media
Trump Media stock fell 8% Wednesday, putting the company's market capitalization below $4.7 billion. Shares for the company, which owns the Truth Social app, are down nearly 45% month to date and closed Wednesday at $34.26 a share. That's significantly lower than the $70.90 price the stock opened at on March 26, its first day as a publicly traded company. Former President Donald Trump is the company's biggest shareholder, and his shares were worth less than $2.7 billion at Wednesday's close, a steep drop from the more than $5 billion in paper value they had two weeks ago.
5. Macy's proxy fight
Department store Macy's has settled a proxy fight with real estate investor Arkhouse and will add two Arkhouse nominees to its 15-person board. The reshuffle moves the 165-year-old chain closer to the possibility of a sale that could take the company private. Both new directors will be part of the committee reviewing Arkhouse's bid to buy the company. The investment firm turned activist first submitted an offer to take the retailer private late last year and has since increased its offer multiple times.
— CNBC's Hakyung Kim, Jeff Cox, Annie Palmer, Dan Mangan and Rohan Goswami contributed to this report.
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