Here are the most important news, trends and analysis that investors need to start their trading day:
- Dow futures rise despite hotter inflation data; S&P 500 near record
- Consumer prices jump in May at fastest pace since the summer of 2008
- GameStop names ex-Amazon executives as new CEO and CFO
- Meat supplier JBS paid ransomware hackers $11 million
- Biden to lay out Covid vaccine donations, urge world leaders to join
1. Dow futures rise despite hotter inflation data; S&P 500 near record
Dow futures rose Thursday despite a hotter-than-expected report on consumer inflation. The Dow logged its third straight session of losses Wednesday. In a rather muted June, the 30-stock average was still less than 1% from last month's record close. The S&P 500, which also dipped Wednesday, remained 0.3% shy of its May record high close. The Nasdaq broke a three-session winning streak, but Wednesday's modest decline still kept the tech-heavy index within 1.6% from its late April record close.
2. Consumer prices jump in May at fastest pace since the summer of 2008
The 10-year Treasury yield ticked higher Thursday, trading around 1.5%, after the government released its red-hot May consumer price index. Headline CPI rose a greater-than-expected 5% on a year-over-year basis, the highest rate since sky-high energy prices spiked inflation readings in August 2008. The CPI's core rate, which excludes the energy and food sectors, was slightly higher than expected, registering a year-over-year gain of 3.8%, the highest rate since June 1992. The Federal Reserve, which has said it believes hotter inflation will be transitory, meets next week. The government also reported a new pandemic-era low of 376,000 initial jobless claims for last week.
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3. GameStop names ex-Amazon executives as new CEO and CFO
Shares of GameStop dropped roughly 6% in the premarket, the morning after the video game retailer named former Amazon executive Matt Furlong as its new CEO. GameStop also named another former Amazon executive, Mike Recupero, as CFO. The company is attempting to shift from a largely brick-and-mortar business to more of an online operation. Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen, who took a stake in GameStop last year and pushed the new strategy, became chairman. GameStop sales rose 25% in the fiscal first quarter on a smaller-than-expected per-share loss. Shares of the original Reddit-favored meme stock have soared 1,500% in 2021.
4. Meat supplier JBS paid ransomware hackers $11 million
Brazil's JBS, the world's largest beef supplier, ended up paying the ransomware group that breached its computer networks about $11 million. The company was hacked in May by REvil, one of a number of Russian-speaking gangs, leading to plant closures. Word of the JBS payment comes after congressional testimony from Joseph Blout, CEO of Colonial Pipeline, which was recently hacked by a different Russian hacker group, DarkSide. In Senate testimony Tuesday, Blout said Colonial Pipeline's decision to pay the ransomware demand was the "right thing to do for the country."
5. Biden to lay out Covid vaccine donations, urge world leaders to join
President Joe Biden, meeting with leaders of the wealthy G-7 democracies on his first overseas trip since taking office, is expected to unveil plans Thursday for the U.S. to donate 500 million vaccine doses around the globe over the next year. That's on top of 80 million shots Biden has already pledged by the end of the month. U.S. officials said the president will also include a direct request to his fellow G-7 leaders to do the same. While Covid eases in the U.S., the pandemic has reached new levels of devastation in many countries. India reported on Thursday a daily record of more than 6,000 deaths from the disease.
— NBC News and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow all the market action like a pro on CNBC Pro. Get the latest on the pandemic with CNBC's coronavirus coverage.
