5 minutes ago
Chocolate prices not falling as cocoa price hits all-time high
Don’t expect any decline in chocolate prices over the holidays after the December cocoa bean contract price rose to a record $4,073 per metric ton (2,205 pounds) on Monday.
In June, cocoa contracts were trading at less than $3,200 per metric ton.
Cocoa will be more than 56% higher in 2023, but that’s not necessarily good news for companies that use it as a raw ingredient in their products. Hershey will be down 16% in 2023, Nestlé’s sponsored ADRs will be down 5%, while Mondelez will be up just 4%.
See the table…
March cocoa contract in the last six months.
-Scott Schnipper, Gina Francolla
22 minutes ago
Science Stocks Rise on Expanded Trades
A handful of science-oriented stocks made notable moves in expanded trading.
Azenta rose more than 4% after reporting a strong financial report for the fiscal fourth quarter. Life sciences stocks beat consensus forecasts from analysts surveyed by FactSet and offered full-year guidance that was in line with expectations.
Viking Therapeutics also added more than 4%. Viking shared new data from the second phase of a trial for patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, briefly known as NASH.
—Alex Harring
39 minutes ago
CPI inflation indicator will attract market attention on Tuesday morning
Markets will be watching on Tuesday for the first of two key inflation reports that the Labor Department will release this week.
The October consumer price index is expected to show prices rose just 0.1% for the month, after rising 0.4% in September, according to a Dow Jones consensus estimate. Year-over-year, the CPI is expected to rise 3.3%, after rising 3.7% the previous month.
Excluding food and energy, the core CPI is expected to increase by 0.3% and 4.1% respectively, after showing the same levels in September.
The release, scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET, precedes Wednesday’s Producer Price Index, which reflects prices at the wholesale level.
—Jeff Cox
48 minutes ago
Stock futures are flat
Stock futures were little changed shortly after 6 p.m. ET on Monday.
Futures linked to the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 were almost flat. This followed a relatively quiet trading day on Monday as investors prepared for the inflation report due out on Tuesday.
—Alex Harring
