S&P, Nasdaq futures slightly higher ahead of inflation reading

By Purvi Agarwal and Shashwat Chauhan

(Reuters) -Futures tied to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were slightly higher on Wednesday, as most megacap stocks rose, while all eyes were on a key inflation reading that could influence the Federal Reserve's move on interest rates.

A November reading of the consumer price index (CPI), due at 8:30 a.m. ET, is among the final major datasets ahead of the Fed's Dec. 17-18 meeting.

The report is expected to show that headline inflation rose 0.3% on a monthly basis and to 2.7% on an annual basis in the last month, still above the Fed's 2% target.

The core figure, which excludes volatile components such as food and energy, is expected to remain unchanged at 3.3% year-on-year.

The inflation rate has been rising again gradually since October and "an end to this short-term upward trend would be necessary to confirm the expectation of three interest rate cuts in the next six months," Jochen Stanzl, chief market analyst at CMC Markets (LON:CMCX ), wrote in a note.

"The Fed wants to see further progress and does not yet consider the fight against inflation to be over. As long as the labor market does not cool down faster, it has time to continue monitoring the situation."

Trader bets currently price in an over 86% chance of the central bank delivering a 25 basis point cut next week, according to CME's FedWatch Tool. Bets had jumped following Friday's employment report, which showed an uptick in unemployment alongside a surge in job growth.

At 7:04 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 38 points, or 0.09%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 5.75 points, or 0.1% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 34.5 points, or 0.16%.

Wall Street's main indexes ended the previous session lower, weighed down by heavyweight technology stocks, yet the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were near record levels.

U.S. equities have had a broadly positive start to December, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq clocking gains in their first week, after ending November on a strong note.

Also expected this week is a producer prices reading on Thursday.

Most megacap and growth stocks moved higher in premarket trading, with Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL ), Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA ) and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA ) rising more than 1% each.

Among other movers, GameStop (NYSE:GME ) gained 3% after the videogame retailer reported a profit for the third quarter on cost-saving efforts.

General Motors (NYSE:GM ) was up 1.5% after the automaker said on Tuesday that it would end robotaxi development at its majority-owned, money-losing Cruise business.



GE Vernova slipped 1.7% as the company's chief executive officer said he was cautious about the outlook for its wind sector even though it had resumed installing turbines at two offshore wind farms.

Macy's (NYSE:M ) slumped 9.3% after the department-store bellwether cut its annual profit forecast.

Source: Investing.com