Stock Market Today: Stocks slide on inflation concerns; GDP slows, Salesforce plunges

The S&P 500 is on pace for its worst week in six amid a spike in Treasury bond yields tied to renewed inflation risks.

May 30, 2024 - 18:30

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Stock Market Today: Stocks slide on inflation concerns; GDP slows, Salesforce plunges

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U.S. equity futures extended declines Thursday while Treasury bond yields continued to test multi-week highs, as investors braced for a key series of economic and inflation data amid the worst week for global stocks in more than a month.

Updated at 8:37 AM EDT

The Commerce Department revised its second estimate for first quarter GDP growth lower, to 1.3% from 1.6%, the lowest since the second quarter of 2022, while noting that core inflation pressures eased modestly over the three months ending in March.

At the same time, the Labor Department said new applications for jobless claims rose by 3,000 last week, to 219,000, a level edges the four-week average by 2,500 to 222,500.

Stocks pared some of their earlier declines on the data releases, with the S&P 500 now called 11 points lower and the Dow priced for a 300 point decline.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields eased to 4.576% while 2-year notes slipped to 4.951% on the muted inflation pressures.

❖ U.S GDP PRICE INDEX (QOQ) (Q1) ACTUAL: 3.1% VS 1.7% PREVIOUS; EST 3.1%

❖ U.S CORE PCE PRICES (Q1) ACTUAL: 3.60% VS 2.00% PREVIOUS; EST 3.70%— *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) May 30, 2024

Stock Market Today

A sharp move higher in Treasury yields, tied to renewed inflation risks and a wave of fresh supply, pulled stocks lower Wednesday, with the S&P 500 finishing 0.74% in the red and the Dow extending its one-week slump to just over 1,400 points.

The Treasury's third coupon auction of the week, a $44 billion sale of 7-year notes, drew weak foreign and domestic demand as yields on the paper surged, taking 10-year notes to 4.594%, the highest in more than a month.

Bond markets will also face a massive wave of new supply next month, with around $340 billion in new debt issued by the U.S., Europe and the U.K., according to BNP Paribas data.

That's added to pressure on stocks, which have been trading without the benefit of top-tier corporate earnings headlines as investors look to today's release of revised first quarter GDP data and tomorrow's reading of the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, the PCE Price Index.

Stocks will navigate a series of economic and inflation releases over the coming days amid the worst week for the S&P 500 in more than a month.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

On Wall Street, futures contracts tied to the S&P 500, which is still up 4.6% for the month, are priced for an 17 point opening-bell decline ahead of both the revised GDP data release and weekly jobless claims figures at 8:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern time.

Futures linked to the Dow suggest a 330 point slump, although a large portion of that is tied to the 16% plunge in Salesforce (CRM) , which issued a muted sales outlook following a mixed first quarter earnings report. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, is called 40 points lower.

Other stocks on the move include PayPal (PYPL) , which jumped 2.4% following an upgrade for the online payments group from Mizuho; and AI software group UiPath (PATH) , which plunged 30% following a disappointing first-quarter earnings update.

Foot Locker (FL) shares surged 13.7% after the athletic footwear retailer posted stronger-than-expected first quarter earnings and a big year-on-year decline in overall inventories.

Kohl's (KSS) shares, on the other hand, tumbled more than 21% to 21.42 each after the department store chain posted a surprise first quarter loss amid what CEO Tom Kingsbury called "ongoing uncertainty in the consumer environment".

Costco (COST) shares were marked 0.3% higher in premarket trading ahead of the bulk discount retailer's fiscal-third-quarter report after the close of trading.

In overseas markets, Europe's Stoxx 600 edged 0.3% higher in Frankfurt while Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.23% in London on interest-rate-cut hopes from their respective central banks.

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Overnight in Asia, the selloff on Wall Street pulled the Nikkei 225 into a 1.3% decline, its third straight day of losses and the lowest closing level since April 26.

The regionwide MSCI ex-Japan benchmark, meanwhile, was marked 1.25% lower into the close of trading.