NEW YORK (REUTERS) - US stock futures reversed course to fall more than 1 per cent on Wednesday (Feb 14) after data showed US consumer prices rose more than expected in January, with core inflation posting its biggest gain in a year.
That again stoked fears that interest rates will increase faster than expected, sending benchmark US bond yields to session highs and further quelling investors' interest in the stock market.
The Labor Department said its Consumer Price Index increased 0.5 per cent last month as households paid more for gasoline, rental accommodation and healthcare. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast an increase of 0.3 per cent.
Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the CPI shot up 0.3 per cent, the largest increase since January 2017.
However, the year-on-year rise in the so-called core CPI was unchanged at 1.8 per cent in January.
Separately, a report showed US retail sales decreased 0.3 per cent last month, the biggest fall in nearly a year and a surprise drop compared with economists' expectations of a 0.2 per cent increase. The weak number raised some concerns about economic growth.
"In some ways you would say this is the worst possible number for US equities: extremely weak US retail sales and a higher CPI. I think there is less to the numbers than meets the eye, however," Steven Englander, head of research and strategy at Rafiki Capital in New York, said.
"It does play into the fears that we are getting into a different inflation regime than we were before. The last 10 years was below target inflation and now the expectations are adjusting upwards, which means the Fed is not as friendly."
By 9:10 pm Singapore time, Dow e-minis were down 152 points, or 0.62 per cent, with 81,595 contracts changing hands. S&P 500 e-minis were down 16 points, or 0.6 per cent, with 433,260 contracts traded. Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 44.5 points, or 0.68 per cent, on volume of 92,441 contracts.
U.S stock futures were higher by about 0.5 per cent ahead of the inflation data released at 8:30pm Singapore time.
The strong CPI data added to fears of firming inflation that was ignited by a strong January jobs report on Feb 2, which was a trigger for last week's sell-off in the stock market.
The yields on the benchmark US 10-year Treasury bonds rose to a session high of 2.8730 per cent after falling to 2.8222 per cent earlier. They hit a four-year high of 2.902 on Monday.
The CBOE Volatility index, known as Wall Street's fear gauge, was last at 23.52 points. They had eased to a week low of 22.81, after shooting above 50 points at the peak of last week's declines.
