Oct 14 (Reuters) – S&P 500 and Dow futures edged higher on Wednesday as AI-related stocks steadied after a recent selloff, though elevated oil prices kept investors on edge ahead of key inflation data and another round of bank earnings.
Following a mixed bag of earnings from Wall Street lenders a day earlier, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, BlackRock and State Street are set to report before markets open.
Bank of America shares fell 1.5% in premarket trading after the company disclosed a $1.21 billion regulatory fine that could weigh on third-quarter results. Morgan Stanley shares edged 0.7% higher.
Chip stocks traded mixed after a sharp pullback earlier this week sparked by reports of progress in chip design by China’s CXMT that fueled concerns about growing competition.
Shares of Intel and Micron fell 1.1% and 1.3%, respectively, while Nvidia gained 0.2%.
All of the “Magnificent Seven” stocks rose, with Alphabet gaining 0.7%, while Meta and Amazon.com were marginally higher.
At 05:41 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 234 points, or 0.45%, and S&P 500 E-minis were up 16.25 points, or 0.21%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 9 points, or 0.03%.
Market participants were also awaiting US consumer price index data, hoping for clues on the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate outlook. Economists polled by Reuters estimated headline inflation accelerated to an annual 3.6% in September, with core CPI rising 0.2% on a monthly basis.
New York Fed President John Williams said the Fed may need to raise its policy rate once more this year to slow inflation, but that he sees no need for hikes in 2027.
Remarks from Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin and the Fed’s Beige Book report on regional economic conditions are also due late in the day.
Ahead of the CPI data, investors priced in a near 22% chance of a quarter-point US rate hike next week, the CME FedWatch Tool showed.
Oil prices edged higher, with Brent crude holding above the $100-a-barrel mark after two vessels were struck in the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian officials told Reuters they were deploying new tactics to target ships. [O/R]
Among individual movers, Liquidia jumped 49.9% after the drugmaker said it settled all six pending lawsuits with United Therapeutics, ensuring uninterrupted access to Yutrepia, a drug used to treat patients with a form of pulmonary hypertension.
(Reporting by Tharuniyaa Lakshmi in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
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