US stock futures drifted higher despite January’s hot inflation report, which dashed Wall Street’s hopes of an interest rate cut anytime soon.
Dow Jones futures (YM=F) drifted 0.1%, whereas Nasdaq futures (NQ=F) rose 0.2%, and futures attached to the benchmark S&P 500 (ES=F) fluttered 0.2%.
January’s inflation report showed consumer prices rose more than forecast with inflation hovering around 3%. The data makes it much more likely that the Federal Reserve will keep rates on hold for the foreseeable future as the central bank waits for inflation to approach its target of 2%.
Reddit (RDDT) stock tumbled in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the social media company reported earnings that showed a miss in user growth. Robinhood (HOOD), meanwhile, soared after after the bell thanks to fourth-quarter profit that beat expectations.
Wall Street will get another read on inflation on Thursday with the release of the producer price index (PPI) at 8:30 a.m. ET. Analysts expect the PPI reading, which tracks the price changes companies see at a wholesale level, to rise 0.3%.
Investors are also anticipating the release of AirBnB (ABNB), Roku (ROKU), and Coinbase (COIN) earnings on Thursday.
President Donald Trump’s ongoing trade war continues to lurk in the background. While the president hasn’t finalized when he will announce reciprocal tariffs, he has said to expect tit-for-tat duties by the end of the week.
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