By Shashwat Chauhan and Ankika Biswas
(Reuters) -Futures tracking Wall Street’s main indexes rose on Thursday as Treasury yields continued to ease, while investors looked forward to crucial inflation data to gauge the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate outlook.
The Labor Department report, due at 8:30 a.m. ET, is expected to show consumer prices rose 0.3% in September, according to economists polled by Reuters, from a gasoline-fueled 0.6% rise in August.
Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, is seen rising at a similar pace to last month’s 0.3%. Focus will also be on weekly jobless claims for clues on the state of the labor market.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year note fell for the third straight day, helping megacap stocks Apple, Alphabet, Nvidia, Meta Platforms and Amazon.com advance between 0.2% and 0.7% in premarket trading.
Boston Fed President Susan Collins said on Wednesday while the odds of the economy escaping a recession have grown, it’s possible the central bank is not done with interest rate hikes aimed at bringing inflation back to its target.
Remarks from other Fed policymakers, including Atlanta’s Raphael Bostic, are also expected on Thursday.
Minutes of the Fed’s Sept. 19-20 meeting showed a growing sense of uncertainty around the path of the U.S. economy, with volatile data and tightening financial markets posing risks to growth.
“The words ‘proceed carefully’ and ‘risks to achieving the goals had become more two-sided’ speak to the view of the centrists on the FOMC,” Societe Generale strategists said, referring to the Fed minutes.
“Barring a surprise for CPI today … one must assume another hawkish pause or skip on Nov. 1 is now a done deal.”
Traders put the chance of interest rates remaining unchanged in November and December at around 91% and around 72%, respectively, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.
Meanwhile, Israel said there would be no humanitarian exceptions to its siege of the Gaza Strip until all its hostages were freed.
Public broadcaster Kan said the Israeli death toll had risen to more than 1,300 since Saturday, while Gaza authorities said more than 1,200 people have been killed and more than 5,000 people have been wounded in retaliatory bombings.
At 7:09 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 105 points, or 0.31%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 16.5 points, or 0.37%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 54.25 points, or 0.35%.
All three major U.S. stock indexes closed higher for the fourth straight session on Wednesday.
Delta Air Lines rose 3.3% after reporting a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit. Other airline stocks such as American Airlines Group, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines Holdings rose more than 1%.
Walgreens Boots Alliance lost 4% after the pharmacy chain operator forecast a lower-than-estimated profit for 2024.
Ford fell 2.5% after the United Auto Workers union shut down the company’s biggest plant globally.
Birkenstock rose 1% after the German sandal maker’s stock ended more than 12% below its IPO price on its market debut on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Shounak Dasgupta)
Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
