U.S. stock futures advanced Wednesday ahead of data that could show inflation accelerating to new heights.
What’s happening
-
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
YM00,
+0.12%
rose 43 points, or 0.1%, to 36171
-
Futures on the S&P 500
ES00,
+0.12%
rose 6 points, or 0.1%, to 4711
-
Futures on the Nasdaq 100
NQ00,
+0.22%
gained 43 points, or 0.3%, to 15874
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+0.51%
rose 183 points, or 0.5%, to 36252, the S&P 500
SPX,
+0.92%
rose 0.9%, or 43 points, to 4713, and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
+1.41%
gained 1.4%, or 211 points, to 15153.
What’s driving markets
The main event for Wednesday will be the release of the consumer price index by the Labor Department at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, which may show prices advancing over 7% year-over-year.
Analysts at RBC Capital Markets expect inflation to keep accelerating into early 2022 before stabilizing, and then slowing in the second quarter. “But the Fed is likely to feel the pressure from this early additional price pressure and feel compelled to start the hiking cycle even as soon as the March meeting,” they said in a note to clients.
Worries about runaway prices, and the Fed’s response, have helped the S&P 500/Citigroup pure value index
SP500PV,
+0.96%
rise 5% this year as the S&P 500/Citigroup pure growth index
SP500PG,
+1.09%
has retreated 5%.
“Barring anything shocking from CPI there could be some good risk/reward set ups forming in some of the growth names that tested their 200 day moving averages and held. Just keep in mind that the macro headwinds are still against growth so bounces like this can be very short lived,” said Matthew Tuttle, the chief executive officer and chief investment officer of Tuttle Capital Management.
