U.S. stock futures advance ahead of inflation data

U.S. stock-index futures advanced Thursday ahead of the week’s big event, the release of September consumer price inflation data.

What’s happening
  • Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    YM00,
    +0.94%

    rose 127 points, or 0.4%, to 29388.

  • Futures on the S&P 500
    ES00,
    +1.00%

    gained 14.75 points, or 0.4%, to 3603.

  • Futures on the Nasdaq 100
    NQ00,
    +0.76%

    increased 19.5 points, or 0.2%, to 10860.

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.10%

fell 28 points, or 0.1%, to 29211, the S&P 500
SPX,
-0.33%

declined 12 points, or 0.33%, to 3577, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 9 points, or 0.09%, to 10417.

The S&P 500 has dropped 25% this year as investors reacted to interest rate rises from the Federal Reserve.

What’s driving markets

The September consumer price index data is set for release at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, with expectations of a 0.3% monthly rise that will reduce the year-over-year inflation rate to 8.1% from 8.3%. The core CPI, excluding food and energy prices, is seen posting a 0.4% monthly gain though.

“This promises to be quite a momentous occasion, as these numbers may hold the key for the performance of the U.S. dollar, and also provide direction for the wider financial markets,” said Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at ActivTrades.

Six of the eight CPI readings this year have topped expectations, noted Michael Brown, senior market analyst at Caxton.

Heading into the data, fed funds futures are pricing in an 83% probability of a 75 basis point rise in the Feds benchmark interest rate at the next Federal Open Market Committee meeting in early November, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury
TMUBMUSD10Y,
3.850%

was steady at 3.91%.

Source: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/u-s-stock-futures-advance-ahead-of-cpi-release-11665652825?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo