Wall St set for lower open after hotter-than-expected producer prices data By Reuters

By Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Johann M Cherian

(Reuters) – Wall Street was set to open lower on Friday as stronger-than-expected producer prices data lifted bond yields, weighing down rate-sensitive technology and growth stocks in premarket trading.

U.S. producer price index climbed 0.8% in the 12 months leading to July, up from a 0.2% rise in the previous month, as service costs increased. Economists polled by Refinitiv had expected a 0.7% gain.

Bets for no rate hike in September slipped marginally to 88.5% from 90% before the data landed, though traders broadly expect the Fed to not tighten credit conditions further for the remainder of the year.[IRPR]

“The prior numbers were revised down so net it’s really not that bad, but the market is going to focus on the current July data,” said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager, Dakota Wealth.

Yield on the 2-year treasury note, that moves in line with near-term interest rate expectations, climbed to 4.8% after the data, pressuring rate-sensitive megacap growth names. [US/]

“Maybe the Fed could raise rates by another 25 basis points in September,” Pavlik added.

Tesla (NASDAQ:), Nvidia (NASDAQ:) and Apple (NASDAQ:) lost between 1.5% and 0.2% before the bell.

Traders now await preliminary U.S. consumer sentiment data for August, due later in the day.

Benchmark U.S. indexes finished marginally higher in the previous session as worries about the U.S. economy’s longer-term prospects and concerns over further growth in stocks eclipsed milder-than-feared consumer prices data that had initially sent shares soaring.

At 8:48 a.m. ET, were down 70 points, or 0.2%, were down 15.5 points, or 0.35%, and were down 103 points, or 0.68%.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq and the were on track to end their second week lower due to a decline in megacap growth and technology stocks that have led outsized gains this year.

U.S.-listed shares of Chinese companies Alibaba (NYSE:) and JD (NASDAQ:).com fell 2.3% and 3.5%, respectively, as investors were disappointed by Beijing’s latest stimulus measures, while fresh data showed that the post-pandemic recovery was losing steam.