First and foremost, Friday marks the beginning of a three-day weekend on Wall Street. The stock market is closed on Monday, Feb. 20 for Presidents' Day.
This morning, markets are falling as investors continue to digest hotter-than-expected inflation data, stoking fears that the Fed will need to raise rates for longer. Thursday's producer price index showed a 0.7% jump in January, higher than the 0.4% estimate. Wall Street is on pace for its third losing week in a row.
DON'T MISS: Elon Musk Responds to NHTSA Recall Of 360,000 Tesla Vehicles; Stock Slumps
Prior to Thursday's closing bell, St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard had commented that he advocated for a 50 basis point hike at the last Fed meeting. Both Bullard and Cleveland's Loretta Mester were leaning in favor of a larger hike, though investors largely believe that the March meeting will result in a 25 basis point hike.
And then there's Tesla.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced a recall of 360,000 vehicles, though CEO Elon Musk has disputed using the word recall for "an over-the-air software update."
The Administration noted that the Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta system could allow cars to act "unsafe" and not respond sufficiently to posted speed limit changes.
"The feature could potentially infringe upon local traffic laws or customs while executing certain driving maneuvers," it said in a statement. "The system may respond insufficiently to changes in posted speed limits or not adequately account for the driver's adjustment of the vehicle's speed to exceed posted speed limits."
The NHTSA posted a letter from Tesla on its site showing that the company did agree to the safety recall.
