U.S. CPI data: S&P 500 seen hitting the 5,500 level in 2024

S&P 500 is in focus today after the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics said inflation was up more than expected in January.

Jay Hatfield shares his outlook for the S&P 500

Versus a year ago, the consumer price index stood at 3.1% last month – compared to the Dow Jones estimate of 2.9%.

Still, Jay Hatfield - the chief investment officer of Infracap expects the Federal Reserve to start cutting rates in the coming months which could push the S&P 500 to the 5,500 level by year end.

For the month, headline inflation came in up 0.3% versus a 0.2% increase expected.

Core inflation data for January

Excluding food and energy, the so-called core consumer price index was at 3.9% for the year – hotter than 3.7% increase that economists had forecast. Still, Hatfield said on CNBC’s “Worldwide Exchange”:

Core CPI for the month came in at 0.4% versus 0.3% expected for January.

Hatfield is particularly bullish on the large-cap dividend stocks like investment banks for 2024. Last week, the BLS revised its inflation data for December as Invezz reported here that helped S&P 500 top the 5,000 level.