Global Courant
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), May 3, 2023.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Equity futures were trading higher on Tuesday after the S&P 500 And Nasdaq composite each posted their highest closing price since April 2022. Wall Street also looked ahead to May’s consumer price index, due for release on Tuesday.
Futures linked to the S&P 500 And Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% and 25 points respectively. Futures linked to the Nasdaq-100 advanced 0.5%.
Oracle stocks rose 4% in premarket trading after beating Wall Street estimates for the fiscal fourth quarter. The company posted adjusted earnings of $1.67 per share on revenues of $13.84 billion.
Stocks ended another positive session on Monday as hopes rose that the Federal Reserve will skip a rate hike at its next policy meeting starting Tuesday. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose 0.93% and 1.53%, respectively, to finish at their highest level in 13 months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average 189.55 points or 0.56% added.
Ahead of the interest rate decision scheduled for Wednesday, market attention is turning to May’s consumer price index report. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect inflation to show signs of easing, forecasting prices to rise 0.1% month on month, up from 0.4% in April. On an annual basis, economists expect an increase of 4%.
The findings may bolster Wall Street’s hopes that sticky inflation eases further, and boost expectations for a rate jump that many have already priced in. According to CME Group’s FedWatch tool 78% of traders are betting on a break. That said, another rise in July is not ruled out.
However, higher-than-expected inflation could disrupt those plans, Ed Moya said.
“Inflation should come down given the trend with petrol prices, a more seasonal increase in food prices and the negative base effect,” Oanda senior market analyst said. “If the U.S. economy gets a hot report, the Fed may have to debate another rate hike and possibly signal that they should be willing to do more.”
