As investors anticipated the release of this week’s first potentially crucial inflation report, US market futures were nearly flat on Tuesday night.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures declined 37 points, or 0.1%. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 both traded relatively flat.
Wall Street’s Inflation Concerns Impact Stock Futures
Investors are awaiting Wednesday’s consumer price index reading for June before the opening bell.
The carefully watched inflation barometer is expected to increase 0.3% from May and 3.1% on an annualized basis, according to economists surveyed by Dow Jones.
The so-called core CPI is anticipated to rise 0.3% on the month and 5% for the year without taking into account volatile food and energy prices.
Producer pricing index statistics for June, another closely followed indicator of inflation, are coming on Thursday before the bell.
Investors are keeping a close eye on both price indices for any potential clues about the direction of inflation that could indicate how the Federal Reserve will move interest rates in the future.
According to CME’s FedWatch Tool, the market is accounting for a probability of 92% that the Fed will increase interest rates at its meeting in July.
Read more: Americans Brace For Extended High Inflation
Wall Street Narrows Focus On Inflation
According to Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer of the Independent Advisor Alliance, “investors are anticipating tomorrow’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers, which could show that inflation is continuing to cool.” In the session that ended on Tuesday, stocks rose.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both made gains of almost 0.7% and 0.6%, respectively, while the Dow finished more than 300 points higher, representing a gain of about 0.9%.
Investors will be listening to central bank officials throughout the day on Wednesday, including Tom Barkin of the Richmond Federal Reserve, Neel Kashkari of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, Raphael Bostic of the Atlanta Federal Reserve, and Loretta Mester of the Cleveland Federal Reserve, for any hints about the direction of US economic policy.