March 18 (Reuters) – Futures tracking Wall Street’s main indexes slipped on Wednesday after data showed producer prices rose more than expected in February, dampening expectations that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates this year.
A Labor Department report showed the Producer Price Index (PPI) rose 3.4% on an annual basis in February, compared with 2.9% expected by economists polled by Reuters.
On a monthly basis, it rose 0.7% compared with an estimated 0.3% rise.
Excluding volatile food and energy components, core PPI stood at 3.9% on an annual basis, compared with an estimates of 3.7%. It rose 0.5% on a monthly basis versus estimates of a 0.3% rise.
At 08:36 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 115 points, or 0.24%, and S&P 500 E-minis were down 15 points, or 0.22%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 47.25 points, or 0.19%.
(Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
