U.S. stock futures were rising on Thursday following Wednesday’s mixed close. Futures of major benchmark indices were higher.
Economists forecast that the August Consumer Price Index will show headline inflation climbing to 2.9% year-over-year, up from 2.7% in July. If confirmed, that would be the highest annual pace since January 2025.
Thursday’s sentiment was driven by wholesale price data, as the Producer Price Index slipped 0.1% in August, contrary to expectations for a 0.3% increase. Wholesale inflation also slowed sharply on an annual basis, declining from 3.3% to 2.6%.
Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.05% and the two-year bond was at 3.55%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing a 100% likelihood of the Federal Reserve cutting the current interest rates for the Sept. 17 decision.
| Futures | Change (+/-) |
| Dow Jones | 0.06% |
| S&P 500 | 0.13% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 0.20% |
| Russell 2000 | -0.21% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, rose in premarket on Thursday. The SPY was up 0.15% at $653.21, while the QQQ advanced 0.21% to $581.90, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Cues From Last Session
Sectors that gained and lost on Wednesday reflected a divergent market, as energy and information technology stocks bucked the overall trend to close higher.
Most other sectors on the S&P 500 finished in the red, with consumer discretionary, health care, and consumer staples recording the biggest losses. This split performance led to a mixed close for U.S. stocks, with the S&P 500 surging to new highs while the Dow Jones index fell more than 200 points.
The positive sentiment was driven by wholesale price data, as the Producer Price Index slipped 0.1% in August, contrary to expectations for a 0.3% increase. Wholesale inflation also slowed sharply on an annual basis, declining from 3.3% to 2.6%.
AI-linked stocks rallied, fueled by investor optimism that artificial intelligence will boost earnings growth after Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL) announced a massive backlog of AI-related orders. In contrast, shares of Chewy, Inc. (NYSE:CHW) tumbled by around 17% on Wednesday following the company’s release of its second-quarter results.
The Dow …