Stocks experienced a rebound during Tuesday's trading after initially facing significant pressure. Though the major averages are still seeing slight losses, they have clawed back from their session lows.
The Nasdaq stands at a 0.1 percent or 17.43 points loss, at 16,236.52, while the S&P 500 is down by 0.3 percent or 14.50 points at 5,187.89. After dropping more than 300 points earlier, the Dow Jones is now down by 0.4 percent or 136.90 points at 38,755.90.
Traders are keenly observing Wall Street, which continues to shows signs of mild weakness, with anticipation of the upcoming release of crucial inflation data. The Labor Department is set to announce its reports on consumer and producer inflation in March, on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
Experts are expecting the consumer prices to have risen by 0.3 percent in March, following a 0.4 percent increase in February. Core consumer prices, excluding food and energy prices, are likely to have risen by 0.3 percent in March after a 0.4 percent rise in February. It is anticipated that the annual rate of consumer price growth would be accelerating to 3.4 percent in March from 3.2 percent in February, while the annual rate of core consumer price growth is predicted to decelerate to 3.7 percent from 3.8 percent.
Producer prices are projected to have increased by 0.3 percent in March after a rise of 0.6 percent in February, while the annual rate of production growth is estimated to have jumped to 2.3 percent from 1.6 percent.
With Federal Reserve officials indicating the need for more robust evidence of inflation slowdown before rate cuts, the impending inflation data is expected to have a considerable impact on interest rate outlooks.
Notwithstanding the broader market's weakness, gold stocks experienced an appreciable upside move this Tuesday. This strength was evidenced by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index rising by 1.5 percent after an eleven-month intraday high earlier in the session. The surge in gold stocks parallels the soaring price of gold, with June-delivery gold climbing $11.40, reaching $2,362.40 per ounce.
Notable strength is also seen among networking and biotech stocks, while pharmaceutical and computer hardware stocks exhibit evident weakness.
Tuesday's overseas trading presented a varied performance across the Asia-Pacific region's stock markets. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index rose by 1.1 percent, whereas South Korea's Kospi declined by 0.5 percent. European markets experienced a downward trend on Tuesday, with the German DAX Index diving by 1.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index dropping by 0.9 percent, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipping by 0.1 percent.
In the bond market, after substantial losses over the previous two sessions, treasuries are regaining ground. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which inversely correlates with its price, has dropped by 5.6 basis points to 4.368 percent.
