US stock futures trudged higher Wednesday before a significant day for the US economy that will provide the latest snapshot of the state of inflation and the latest signal on the path of interest rates.
S&P 500 futures (ES=F) built on its 27th record close of the year, rising 0.1%. Futures on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) rose 0.2%, also pointing to gains after a record close for the index. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) gained 0.1%.
Wall Street is set for a one-two punch Wednesday, with the latest reading on consumer prices coming at 8:30 a.m. ET. In the afternoon, the Federal Reserve will unveil its latest decision on interest rates.
The pace of inflation is expected to have eased last month after some hotter-than-expected surprises in the first half of 2024. The Consumer Price Index is expected to show headline inflation of 3.4%, which would match April, according to estimates from Bloomberg. On a “core” basis, which strips out food and gas, prices in May are expected to have risen 3.5% over last year — a slight slowdown from April.
Read more: How does the labor market affect inflation?
Meanwhile, the Fed’s decision is all but certain — the central bank is expected to keep rates at their current 23-year-high levels. Investors will be more closely watching the release of the Fed’s updated economic projections in its “dot plot” — specifically, how many rate cuts it projects for the rest of the year.
Last we heard, in March, it was three. Policymakers are almost certain to slash that, thanks in part to the aforementioned inflation’s stickiness to start this year. Those projections, along with what Fed Chair Jerome Powell says in his press conference, could be the last market-moving events in an extraordinarily busy day.
In corporates, Apple (AAPL) shares cooled off after surging to a record high on Tuesday. Shares fell 0.4% premarket.
Live3 updates
-
Nvidia as the sun…
A tip of the hat to Apollo chief economist Torsten Slok for this vibe check on the S&P 500.
Clearly, Nvidia (NVDA) is the sun that 499 other companies revolve around.
Note: Apollo is the parent company of Yahoo Finance.
It’s an Nvidia market. (Apollo) -
-
