Nasdaq hits record ahead of new inflation figures

• The Nasdaq hit a record in early trading on Tuesday, while other indexes were mixed.

• Traders will be waiting for PCE inflation data on Friday.

• The markets will also process housing data and revised GDP figures for the first quarter.

Stocks were mixed on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq hitting records in early trading, as traders looked ahead to several big data points that could impact markets in the day ahead.

The main event for investors will come at the end of the week, when the Bureau of Economic Analysis releases the personal consumption expenditure price index for April. The Consumer Price Index from earlier this month showed some encouraging signs, and PCE – the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure – will be key in helping markets determine the path of Fed policy.

The PCE is expected to be in line with the previous month’s figures, up 2.7% year-on-year.

But before that, markets will digest revised first-quarter economic growth data, as well as housing data in the form of the Case Shiller home price index.

Also this week, a new round of Fed speakers will comment on the progress of the economy, inflation and interest rates. On Tuesday morning, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari made some hawkish comments in an interview with CNBC, saying the central bank would need to see many more months of falling inflation before cutting rates. He added that nothing is off the table, including rate hikes, if inflation does not show more progress.

‘I don’t see the need to rush and cut interest rates. I think we have to take the time to get it right,” Kashkari said.

Here’s where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Friday:

Here’s what else is happening today:

In commodities, bonds and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.7% to $79.09 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 0.4% to $83.45 a barrel.

• Gold rose 0.9% to $2,354 an ounce.

• The yield on ten-year government bonds fell by one basis point to 4.457%.

• Bitcoin fell 0.5% to $68,212.51.

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