Small-Caps & Tech Sell Off Ahead of July CPI

Tech stocks and small-caps — the two strongest segments of this mini-rally off June lows — were hit the hardest on this down day for trading.

Tech and small-cap stocks led the decline on Wednesday as investors awaited key inflation data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 56.03 points, or 0.17%, to 32,027.09. The S&P 500 lost 16.74 points, or 0.42%, to 4,008.85. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 150.40 points, or 1.19%, to 12,317.66.The tech-heavy Nasdaq and small-cap Russell 2000 , which has gained 12% in the past month, led the declines on Wednesday, falling 1.19% and 1.58%, respectively, ahead of the CPI report. Markets typically experience a sell-off in the lead-up to major economic prints.

CPI is expected to ease 40 basis points month-over-month to +8.7%—still notably high—on +6.1% core, which would mark an increase of 20 basis points month-over-month. While traders will be watching these pending figures closely, even a strong surprise to the downside, such as 6% headline and 4% core, would still leave inflation well above the Fed’s optimal levels. As such, even very good CPI numbers are unlikely to deter the central bank from continuing to hike the Fed funds rate.

The markets have also been in a holding pattern of sorts in August, with no Fed meeting to gauge interest rate hikes. We’re now in “watch the petri dish” mode, observing the Fed’s handiwork in drips and drabs of economic data. July CPI will be the biggest, arguably, of the entire month, with last Friday’s robust jobs report already in the books. But there will also be Housing Starts and Retail Sales next week, which should also color in our current picture.Two companies that went public during the pandemic reported their Q2 results after the closing bell Tuesday, and both missed the mark on the bottom line by a wide margin. Coinbase Global COIN lost -$4.98 per share in the quarter, and Roblox RBLX came in at -$0.30 per share. This compares unfavorably to the Zacks consensus of -$3.04 per share and -23 cents, respectively.We moderate a bit on quarterly sales; Coinbase brought in $808 million, which fell short of the $877 million analysts were expecting and was down 31% quarter over quarter and 64% year over year. Roblox, on the other hand, beat expectations in the quarter on revenues—$640 million versus $636.6 million expected, with Daily Active Users (DAU) up 21% year over year. Coinbase counted 9 million users on net trading volume, which was down 53% from a year ago.It’s the videogame maker that’s really taking the hit in late trading, down 12%; the crypto exchange platform is down 3.5% at this hour. Both companies have struggled to meet bottom-line expectations in the quarters since their initial public offerings in early 2021, as the waning pandemic has dimmed their fortunes somewhat. Coinbase is down 65% year to date, and Roblox is down 52%. Lower guidance from both could lead to lower near-term Zacks Ranks for the #3- (Hold) rated stocks.Wynn Resorts WYNN took an expected hit from shutdowns at its Macau locations due to government-mandated Covid closures in the quarter just reported but outperformed on its bottom line: -82 cents per share versus -94 cents expected (and the -$1.12 per share reported a year ago) on $909 million in revenues, which fell short of the $1.01 billion Zacks consensus. Bigger-than-expected gains in Las Vegas and Boston Harbor properties helped to offset the weakness in its Macau businesses.