Wall Street set to extend declines on rate hike concerns

© Reuters. Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., May 11, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

By Devik Jain and Amruta Khandekar

(Reuters) -Wall Street's main indexes were set to open lower on Thursday, with growth stocks leading declines as investors worried that aggressive interest rate increases to curb decades-high inflation could tip the economy into recession.

Megacap stocks Meta Platforms, Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), Google-owner Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc slipped between 1.2% and 4.7% in premarket trading.

Chipmakers Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) Corp were down 0.9% to 2.8%.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq index slumped more than 3% on Wednesday, after data showed U.S. consumer prices moderated in April but were likely to stay hot for a while and keep the Federal Reserve's foot on the brakes to cool demand.

A Labor Department report on Thursday showed the producer price index (PPI) for final demand rose 0.5% in April compared with a 1.6% increase in March. Economists had forecast the PPI gaining 0.5% for the month.

"What we're seeing is that inflation is starting to slow down but the velocity was not as fast as people had hoped. So I think markets are still scared about that," said Gene Goldman, chief investment officer at Cetera Investment Management.

"There's really a lot of uncertainty around the Fed right now. If they are too aggressive, that hurts economic growth, but (if) they're too conservative, higher inflation hurts consumption, which also hurts growth."

Growth stocks, which led Wall Street's rally from the pandemic lows in 2020, have borne the brunt of a selloff this year as their returns and valuations are discounted more deeply when rates go up.

The S&P 500 growth index has dropped 25.6% so far this year, a much larger decline than the 8.4% fall in its value counterpart which houses economy-sensitive sectors like banks, energy, and industrials.

Traders are pricing in a 61% chance of a 75 basis point hike by the Fed in June. [IRPR]

At 8:38 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 159 points, or 0.5%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 31.75 points, or 0.81%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 183.75 points, or 1.54%.

Among other stocks, Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) Co slid 5.5% after its second-quarter revenue and profit fell short of estimates and the entertainment giant cautioned that supply chain disruptions and rising wages could pressure finances.

Plant-based protein maker Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND) Inc slumped 24.1% and was on track to open below its IPO price as quarterly losses ballooned.

Tapestry (NYSE:TPR) climbed 6.7% after the Kate Spade owner reported upbeat third-quarter results, driven by higher prices and strength in its North American market.