US stock futures edge higher; CPI looms, Q4 earnings season begins
Investing.com — U.S. stock futures edged higher Thursday, adding to the previous session’s gains ahead of the release of key U.S. inflation numbers for December, which could play into how the Federal Reserve approaches potential interest rate reductions this year.
By 06:45 ET (11:45 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up just 2 points, S&P 500 Futures traded 6 points, or 0.1%, higher and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 60 points, or 0.4%.
The main equity indices closed higher on Wednesday, with the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 0.5%, the benchmark S&P 500 dropping 0.6%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8%.
The main focus this session will be the U.S. consumer inflation report for December, which is likely to guide market expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts in 2024.
Headline U.S. inflation is expected to have sped up marginally in December, to 3.2% on an annual basis from 3.1% in November, while the so-called "core" measure, which strips out volatile items like food and energy, is tipped to drop to 3.8%, down from 4.0% in the prior month and a level not seen since mid-2021.
The futures market indicates that around 140 basis points of cuts are priced in this year, with around a two-thirds chance they will begin as soon as March.
The fourth-quarter earnings season starts in earnest on Friday, with results due from a series of banking giants, including Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM).
Ahead of that, Citigroup (NYSE:C) stock fell 1.1% premarket after the bank warned that its fourth-quarter results will be hit by $880 million in currency conversion losses from Argentina’s currency and another $780 million from restructuring moves.
KB Home (NYSE:KBH) stock fell
Read more on investing.com
