Dow rises slightly as investors digest inflation data

Shares of Cinemark have shed more than 30% in recent weeks but are poised to outperform following the success of “Avatar,” according to JPMorgan. That makes now a great time to snap up shares.

JPMorgan upgraded Cinemark to overweight from neutral and kept its $15 price target, which implies a more than 57% upside from where the stock currently trades. Shares rose 2.5% in premarket trading on the news.

“Following a 31% decline in shares since the beginning of December (vs. SPX -3%), we believe the risk/reward is more favorable to take a positive view on the stock,” wrote analyst David Karnovsky in a Thursday note.

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—Carmen Reinicke

2023 is just kicking off, but some restaurant stocks have already posted double-digit year to date increases.

Many popular restaurant names in the S&P 1500 have broken past their 50-day moving averages, settling into overbought, and, in some cases, extreme overbought territory, according to data compiled by Bespoke Investment Group.

Some overbought names include Bloomin’ Brands, Cheesecake Factory, Dave & Buster’s and Brinker International, with shares up more than 15% each.

Shake Shack shares have risen the most among the group of stocks, with shares surging more 29% since the start of 2023 after falling about 42% in 2022.

Shelter costs, which includes rent, jumped more than expected in the December consumer price index, and that is an area economists are watching closely.

Shelter rose 0.8%, or 7.5% from a year ago. Some economists had expected a gain of 0.6% in shelter, which accounts for 40% of core CPI. The shelter costs in CPI are known to lag the actual market data on rentals.

“In this single month-over-month report, there is almost no inflation outside of shelter,” said Wilmington Trust chief economist Luke Tilley “Goods prices are collapsing mostly because of motor vehicles and computers and laptops and technology. Used vehicle prices are down 27.5% at annualized rate over the past three months, and they’re likely to keep falling.”

Tilley expects shelter inflation to slow in the next couple of months. As for overall CPI, it fell by 0.01% as expected.

Greg Peters, co-chief investment officer of PGIM Fixed income, said the increase in shelter inflation is something to watch. He said the market had expected a slightly larger decline in headline CPI.

“I still think it’s largely fine. I think numbers will continue to come down. The real question is where does it start to level out?” said Peters. “That’s the piece of it that should be the point of focus. It’s great that CPI mechanically is coming down, and there’s some good news in the report. But that doesn’t mean the Fed gets close enough to its target that they get comfortable.”

Tilley said he expects 2023…