US stock futures traded slightly higher on Tuesday night (Wednesday AEDT) as market participants look towards the release of December’s consumer price index (CPI), a key measure of inflation, due Wednesday morning (Thursday AEDT).
By 10:20 am AEDT (11:20 pm GMT) futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 added 0.1% apiece, while Nasdaq 100 futures climbed by 0.2%.
During the regular session, the Dow gained 221.2 points, or 0.5%, while the S&P 500 added 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite, however, declined by 0.2% as a pullback in technology stocks weighed on the index.
Tuesday's gains followed a better-than-expected producer price index (PPI) report, which showed a modest 0.2% rise in December, falling short of the Dow Jones consensus forecast of 0.4%. This eased concerns about persistent inflation.
Investors are now shifting focus to the December CPI reading, with economists predicting a 0.3% month-over-month increase and a 2.9% annual gain.
Meanwhile, the fourth-quarter earnings season is set to kick off this week, with major financial institutions reporting results. BlackRock, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup are slated to release their earnings before the market opens on Wednesday.