Stock futures fall as investors await U.S. inflation data; gas shortages worsen as the biggest U.S. pipeline remains closed after a cyberattack; FuboTV soars after boosting its revenue forecast.
Here are five things you must know for Wednesday, May 12:
1. -- Stock Futures Fall as Wall Street's Focus Turns to Inflation Data
Stock futures were lower Wednesday as investors awaited inflation data amid worries that higher price pressures could hamper the U.S. economic recovery.
Contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 78 points, S&P 500 futures declined 8 points and Nasdaq futures were down 52 points.
Investors will be giving great importance to the Consumer Price Index, which will be released Wednesday. CPI data are forecast to show a year-over-year gain of 3.6% in April, though comparisons are skewed by the pandemic in 2020.
David O'Malley, chairman and CEO of Penn Mutual Asset Management, said the odds of a more significant increase in inflation continue to grow given the limited goods resulting from the chip shortage, the increase in commodity prices and the tough time businesses are having hiring workers.
The Federal Reserve has tried to assure Wall Street that any bump higher in inflation would be transitory even as it allows the economy to run hot as it recovers.
The fear among investors, however, is that price pressures will force the central bank to raise interest rates and taper its monthly asset purchases sooner than it has signaled.
Stocks ended sharply lower Tuesdayon renewed anxiety about the prospects of higher inflation. The Dow had its worst day since Feb. 26, falling 473 points, or 1.36%, to close at 34,269.
2. -- Oil Prices Rise and Gas Shortages Worsen After Pipeline Hack
Oil prices rose Wednesday and approached $66 a barrel as the biggest U.S. pipeline remained closed following a cyberattack at the end of last week.
Filling stations across the East Coast have begun reporting gas shortages since Colonial Pipeline was hacked on Friday. Colonial Pipeline, which delivers around 45% of all refined fuels along the eastern U.S. coast between Texas and New York, said it continues to make progress in restoring its network to full capacity.
The Environmental Protection Agency has waived safety and environmental rules across certain states to increase the supply of gasoline.
Gas prices in the U.S. hit the highest levels in seven yearson Tuesday. The American Automobile Association said average pump prices hit $2.99 cents a gallon across the United States this week, the highest since late 2014.
3.-- Wednesday's Calendar: Consumer Price Index and Bumble Earnings
The U.S.economic calendarWednesday includes the Consumer Price Index for April at 8:30 a.m. ET and Oil Inventories for the week ended May 7 at 10:30 a.m.
Economists expect a month-to-month gain of 0.2% in consumer prices and a 0.3% increase in core CPI.
Earnings reports are expected Wednesday from Bumble (BMBL) -Get Report, Wendy's (WEN) -Get Report, Lumentum Holdings (LITE) -Get Report, Sonos (SONO) -Get Report, Poshmark (POSH) -Get Report, GrowGeneration (GRWG) -Get Report, Dillard's (DDS) -Get Report, Vroom (VRM) -Get Report, Amdocs (DOX) -Get Report and Lemonade (LMND) -Get Report.
Can Bumble Gets Its Buzz Back on Earnings Report?
4. -- Cramer Says Stocks Will Tell You When Tech Finally Has Hit Bottom
TheStreet founder Jim Cramer tackled the question of when tech shares finally will bottom on his "Mad Money" program Tuesday evening.
His answer: The stocks will tell you.
Cramer said he's not willing to call a bottom in all tech stocks, but in certain names a midday bounce Tuesday signaled a bottom might soon be at hand. Cramer said investors can begin positions in stocks like Tesla (TSLA) -Get Report, but still need to avoid stocks like HP Inc. (HPQ) -Get Report given the chip shortage.
Cramer said there also remains a glut of enterprise software stocks, many of which will begin to decline as the U.S. reopening takes hold. That's bad news for stocks like Zoom Video Communications (ZM) -Get Report. That's why, Cramer said, the only way to value tech stocks is on a case-by-case basis.
5. -- FuboTV Soars After Boosting Revenue Forecast
FuboTV (FUBO) -Get Report was rising sharply in premarket trading Wednesday following strong first-quarter gains in subscribers and revenue and after the sports streaming companyboosted its revenue forecast for the full year.
“The first quarter of 2021 was an inflection point for fuboTV," David Gandler, co-founder and CEO, said in a statement. "For the first time in any first quarter, we reported sequential revenue and subscriber growth, despite past seasonality trends. This tells us that consumers are increasingly cutting the cord.”
The company said it expects full-year revenue of $520 million to $530 million, higher than its previous guidance of $460 million to $470 million. Analysts are predicting revenue of $472.6 million.
FuboTV also said it expects to have 830,000 to 850,000 subscribers at the end of 2021, up from its previous expectations on 760,000 to 770,000.
The stock jumped 19.69% in premarket trading Wednesday to $21.15.