Stocks rise as another report points to cooling inflation: Live updates

The major averages rose to start Thursday’s session. The Dow advanced 40 points, or 0.1%. The S&P 500 gained 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.7%.

— Fred Imbert

The price of ether climbed above $2,000 Thursday for the first time in eight months, after investors put uncertainty surrounding the long-awaited Shanghai upgrade behind them.

Ether advanced more than 5% to $2,007.55, according to Coin Metrics. Bitcoin gained more than 1% to reclaim the $30,000, after briefly falling below it on Wednesday.

After a two-year lock up period, Ethereum staking withdrawals were enabled by the Shanghai upgrade around 6:30 p.m. ET on April 12.

For more on how investors are reacting to Ethereum’s latest tech transition check out our full story here. Head to CNBC Pro for a deeper look at what Shanghai means for investors.

— Tanaya Macheel

Harley-Davidson shares are down nearly 4% in premarket trading after UBS predicted first-quarter retail sales at U.S. dealers could tumble as much as 20% from a year ago.

While that’s bad news on its own — and not a great signal about the overall retail environment — the real story could be even worse. Analyst Robin Farley is afraid that Harley’s core customer is aging out of the category and the company isn’t doing enough to pull in new buyers. Farley noted a number of entry-level bikes have been nixed. Even with a number of big incentives and rebates, the lack of a less expensive option makes it harder for dealers to appeal to price-sensitive shoppers.

—Christina Cheddar Berk

Here are some of the names making the biggest moves in premarket trading:

• Merck — The pharma giant rose about 1% after being upgraded to by Citi to buy from neutral, saying its drug pipeline is underappreciated. The Wall Street firm boosted the stock’s price target to $130, which implies 14% upside from Wednesday’s closing price.
• Steven Madden — Shares rallied 5.5% following an upgrade by Citi to buy from neutral by Citi. The firm said it expects Steve Madden to begin seeing stronger wholesale reorders in the second quarter.
• Harley-Davidson — The motorcycle maker fell nearly 4% in the premarket after UBS said retail declines for the motorcycle maker in the first quarter may be worse than expected.

To read more about companies making moves in the premarket, read the full story here.

— Michelle Fox

Initial claims came in at 239,000 for the week ending April 8, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists polled by Dow Jones were forecasting initial claims to come in at 235,000.

That’s a rise from 228,000 claims in the previous week.

— Sarah Min

The producer price index, a gauge of wholesale inflation, fell 0.5% month over month in March — another sign that U.S. inflation may be cooling. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected PPI to remain unchanged from February.

Core PPI, which strips out food and energy prices, fell 0.1%, while economists had forecast a 0.2% increase.

— Fred Imbert

Merck shares rose 1.3% during Thursday’s premarket trading after Citi upgraded the stock to buy from neutral.

The bank said Merck’s newly acquired portfolio of ADC, or antibody drug conjugate, from China-based Kelun-Biotech helps the company in “future-proofing” its oncology and hematology pipeline. The exclusive license and collaboration agreement for ADC development helps Merck in developing more cancer treatment drugs, which Citi thinks it could rival its competitors’ offerings.

“Merck’s TROP2 ADC is a materially under-appreciated competitor to AZN/DS dato-DXd,” Baum wrote in a Thursday note, referring to AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s lung cancer drug currently in development.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about his upgrade here.

— Hakyung Kim

Shares of Delta Air Lines soared nearly 5% in the premarket after the airline forecast revenue growth and profits for the second quarter that topped analysts estimates.

Delta projected “record advance bookings for the summer” and said it expects sales in the current quarter to increase by 15% to 17% over last year. It is forecasting adjusted earnings per share of between $2 to $2.25. Analysts polled by Refinitiv were expecting revenue growth of 14.6% and adjusted EPS of $1.66.

However, Delta reported earnings and revenue that missed Wall Street’s estimates for the first quarter.

— Michelle Fox, Leslie Josephs

Ether rose more than 4% to $1,992.46, according to Coin Metrics, as traders moved past surrounding uncertainty over the long-awaited Shanghai update.

After a two-year lock up period, Ethereum staking withdrawals were enabled by the Shanghai upgrade around 6:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

Investors were optimistic but cautious in the weeks leading up to the upgrade. While many agree the upgrade is good for Ethereum in the long-term – because it allows more liquidity to ether investors and stakers which could also be a catalyst for a change in institutional participation – there was more uncertainty around how it would affect the price.

— Tanaya Macheel

Deutsche Bank analyst Corinne Blanchard downgraded First Solar to hold from buy, noting the stock is expensive after rallying 38% year to date.

“We remain positive on the fundamentals of the company, given a strong backlog through the coming years, with improved [average selling price]. Yet, we believe that the current stock price … represents an expensive entry point for investors; we would see a valuation range of below $200/sh as more attractive,” the analyst wrote.

First Solar shares dipped more than 1% in the premarket.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Hakyung Kim

European stock markets opened mixed Thursday as investors digest key inflation data out of the U.S. released Wednesday.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was tentatively higher with a 0.2% uptick, and sectors were mostly in positive territory. Household goods led gains with a 1.8% jump, while oil and gas stocks made the biggest drop with a 0.4% downturn.

— Hannah Ward-Glenton

European stock markets are expected to open mixed, with the FTSE 100 looking to drop 8 points to 7,808.9 and Germany’s DAX losing 11 points to 15,688.7, according to IG data. France’s CAC index will buck the trend and gain 39 points to sit at 7,435.2.

— Hannah Ward-Glenton

Traders are digesting the latest reading of the consumer price index, but another inflation reading will be due Thursday morning: the producer price index.

The PPI, which measures a measurement of wholesale prices, are due at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists polled by Dow Jones anticipate that March’s reading will be flat, compared to a decline of 0.1% in February. When excluding volatile food and energy prices, economists predict that PPI will rise by 0.2%, compared to an unchanged reading in February.

–Darla Mercado

Check out the companies making headlines in after hours trading.

Tesla — Shares of the electric vehicle giant slid 0.3% in extended trading hours, with the company reporting second quarter earnings a week from Wednesday. Investors will turn their attention toward any forward guidance on whether to expect more price cuts from the EV giant this year, after slashing prices on both the Model 3 and Model Y just days earlier.

Broadcom — The chipmaker gained 0.3% after trading lower during regular market hours. Broadcom stock pulled back earlier Wednesday after the European Commission raises competition concerns over the company’s planned purchase of cloud computing firm VMware.

Qualcomm — Peer semiconductor giant Qualcomm added 0.5% after the closing bell, just a day after closing 1.05% higher and outpacing the benchmark S&P 500. The broader field of semiconductor stocks have fared well ahead of the forthcoming earnings season despite Wall Street predicting a bottom in the sector.

Walmart — The retail behemoth pulled back 0.23% after hours, a day after the company announced plans to close four warehouses in Chicago as well as initiate a bond sale. Elsewhere, Walmart is planning on making automation a larger part of its warehouse operations to manage inventory.

— Brian Evans

Investors Intelligence, which tracks bullish and bearish opinion among financial newsletter editors as a contrarian indicator, said in its latest survey this week that “[s]entiment still allows for higher markets.”

The percentage of bullish advisors was little changed, at 48.7% against 48.6% last week, and the danger zone isn’t breached until the number reaches 55% or more, II said. What’s more, bulls topped bears for a 21st straight week, “another positive sign.”

Bearish advisors contracted to 24.3% from 25% last week, while those calling for a correction widened to 27% from 26.4%. The so-called “bull-bear spread” rose to 24.4% from 23.6% a week ago.

Investor sentiment readings are regarded as contrarian indicators because the more bullish that people say they are, the presumption goes, the less money there is on the sidelines available to buy stock. Conversely, the more bearish investors say they are, the more likely they are to have already sold.

— Scott Schnipper