Stock Market Today (Oct. 15, 2026): Nasdaq futures fall as Wall Street awaits more economic data
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Happy Thursday. Stock futures were mixed as Wall Street looked to recover from a losing session driven by hotter-than-expected inflation data.
Markets closed lower Wednesday after the Consumer Price Index (CPI) accelerated month over month, fueling a sell-off in AI and semiconductor shares, while third-quarter bank earnings were mixed to weak.
Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com, said Wednesday’s CPI numbers “were a bucket of cold water for dovish hopes.”
“The data confirmed that inflation continues to run above target in the US, and more importantly, it is moving further away from it,” she said. “The data reveals how sticky price pressures have become, and it’s not possible to pin it all on the continued rise in energy prices.”
Hathorn said the data breakdown shows that core services continue to be a bigger contributor than energy, “which is particularly uncomfortable for a central bank focused on bringing inflation back to 2%.”
“This all but confirms that the Federal Reserve is going to hike rates again, possibly even at the meeting in two weeks,” she said. “Markets now view this outcome probability as a coin flip, a substantial shift from the more dovish expectations that followed September’s softer labor-market data.”
A global sell-off in memory-chip stocks deepened overnight as South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index ended 8% lower, Business Insider reported. Samsung Electronics and memory-chip rival SK Hynix (SKHY) closed 9% and 11% lower, respectively.
The plunge followed Wednesday’s tech-led sell-off on Wall Street, as the CPI data revived concerns about higher interest rates.
The sell-off spread across Asia’s other major AI markets. Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 5% lower, with chipmaker Kioxia and tech investor SoftBank Group among the biggest losers. Taiwan’s Taiex fell 3%, while chipmaking giant TSMC lost 2%.
The September producer price index, along with new retail sales figures and weekly jobless claims, is slated for release today at 8:30 a.m. ET.
The corporate earnings season continues, with U.S. Bancorp (USB), PNC Financial Services (PNC) and Charles Schwab (SCHW) scheduled to report results.