U.S. stocks are falling after hotter-than-expected producer prices

By Liz Moyer 

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were falling after higher-than-expected producer price data refueled concerns about interest rates.

At 11:15 ET (16:15 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 246 points or 0.7%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 0.2%.

The Labor Department said producer prices rose 0.7% in January after a 0.2% fall in the previous month. Analysts expected a monthly rise of 0.4%. For the year, producer prices rose 6% in January from a 6.5% increase in December. But analysts were expecting a rise of 5.4%.

Investors are expecting the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point when it meets next month. But there has been hope that the Fed was nearing the end of its rate-hiking cycle. Hotter-than-expected data could encourage the Fed to keep its aggressive stance in place for longer.

The strong labor market is also stoking these fears. Jobless claims unexpectedly fell last week. Initial claims fell to 194,000 last week while analysts were expecting 200,000.

Shares of Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU) rose 17.5% after the streaming television device maker beat fourth quarter revenue expectations, with a 16% increase in active users. It also forecast strong growth in the current quarter, expecting its streaming devices and content platform to drive growth.

Shares of Shopify Inc. (NYSE:SHOP) fell 15.5% after the e-commerce platform for businesses unveiled a weaker-than-anticipated financial outlook despite reporting a surprise profit in the fourth quarter.

Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) rose 5% after it raised its full-year earnings forecast and delivered strong second quarter results. Spending on network infrastructure remains resilient.

Oil was falling. Crude Oil WTI Futures were down 0.5% to $78.17 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures were down 0.5% to $84.95 a barrel. Gold Futures fell 0.2% to $1,842.