Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on December 10, 2024.
Brendan McDiarmid | Reuters
Stock futures are mostly flat Tuesday night as investors brace for incoming inflation data.
Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures Sitting near the flatline, up 5 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures Each is above less than 0.1%.
Traders are waiting for the consumer price index reading for November in the morning. Economists polled by the Dow Jones expect the inflation gauge, which tracks a basket of goods and services, to rise 0.3% from October and 2.7% from a year ago. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the so-called core CPI is expected to increase by 0.3% and 3.3% from 12 months ago.
This comes ahead of the Producer Price Index report expected later in the week. These are two of the last major economic data releases expected before the Federal Reserve's policy meeting next week. Fed fund futures are priced above 85% chance According to CME's FedWatch tool, central banks lower interest rates in their gathering.
Tuesday night's action follows a losing day on Wall Street. It marked the second straight day S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite And the fourth negative session Dow.
Baird investment strategist Ross Mayfield said Tuesday's moves showed the market was in “wait mode” ahead of the CPI print. He added that market participants may have “a little bit of concern” about what might show in terms of inflation.
“You're just seeing this unnecessary consolidation of momentum trading,” Mayfield said. “I think we're still in a bull market, but we obviously need a period of consolidation to catch our breath.”
Investors will also monitor monthly federal budget data expected on Wednesday. In terms of corporate earnings, monitor adobe Results scheduled to be released after the bell.
