- Investors will be watching for any signs of progress in the battle against inflation as the consumer price index is released Wednesday morning.
- Boeing delivered fewer planes in the first quarter than in the previous quarter and in the same period a year ago.
- Intel unveiled its latest artificial intelligence chip as it looks to compete with Nvidia.
Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:
1. Near flatline
The major indexes struggled to regain momentum Tuesday as investors await a key inflation report (more on that below). The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed just below the flatline, slipping 9.13 points, or 0.02%. The S&P 500, meanwhile, picked up 0.14% while the Nasdaq Composite added slightly more, with a rise of 0.32%. Some big tech names fell for the day, with Nvidia down 2%, and Meta and Netflix down about 0.5% and 1.6%, respectively. Follow live market updates.
2. Inflation situation
A customer moves through the check out lane with his groceries at a Costco Wholesale store on April 3, 2024 in Colchester, Vermont.
Investors will be closely watching a key inflation report from the Labor Department for signs of progress in the battle to bring down inflation. But that’s not quite what experts are predicting. The consumer price index is expected to register increases of 0.3% both for the all-items measure and the core yardstick that excludes volatile food and energy. That would put inflation rates on a 12-month basis of 3.4% and 3.7%, respectively. Federal Reserve officials have looked for inflation to consistently hit a 2% target before they start cutting interest rates. The report, which measures costs for a wide-ranging basket of goods and services, will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.
3. All that and a bag of
Intel unveiled its latest AI chip as it looks to take a piece of the pie from leader Nvidia, which has an estimated 80% of the AI chip market. Intel’s chip, called Gaudi 3, can train big artificial intelligence models such as OpenAi’s ChatGPT. The company says its chips use less power than Nvidia’s and can run AI models one-and-a-half-times faster than Nvidia’s H100 GPU. Intel didn’t provide a price estimate for its new chip, which will be available in the third quarter, but said companies including Dell, HP and Supermicro will build systems with its chips.
4. Deliveries down
A person walks past an unpainted Boeing 737-8 MAX parked at Renton Municipal Airport adjacent to Boeing’s factory in Renton, Washington on January 25, 2024.
Boeing deliveries fell in the first quarter. The manufacturer handed over 83 planes in the three months ended March 31, compared with 157 in the prior quarter and 130 planes a year ago. It’s the lowest number since mid-2021. The company has faced increased scrutiny after a door plug blew out from one of its 737 Max 9 planes midair in January. To be sure, customers are still ordering planes, but Boeing’s major airline customers have complained that delivery delays have forced them to rethink their growth plans.
5. Gold rush
Costco selling 1 ounce gold bars
Costco has struck gold — literally. The retailer has sold 1-ounce bars made of nearly pure 24-karat gold since late summer 2023. Meanwhile, the precious metal has been on a tear this year, with spot prices rising more than 13% in 2024. Sales of the bars are so good that analysts at Wells Fargo expect Costco’s revenue “may now be running at” $100 million to $200 million a month. “Our work suggests there has been significant interest given COST’s aggressive pricing and high level of customer trust,” Edward Kelly, an equity analyst at the bank, said in a note to clients Tuesday.
— CNBC’s Hakyung Kim, Jeff Cox, Kif Leswing and Leslie Josephs contributed to this report.
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