US Stocks Show Cautious Optimism As S&P 500, Dow Futures Surge Ahead Of Key CPI Data — Trump's SPAC Partner, Applied Materials And Chip Stocks In Focus Today

The U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Wall Street, reflecting traders’ hopes that the consumer price inflation data may prove benign.

Stocks opened Wednesday’s session higher but trading was characterized by a lack of direction amid the release of the September producer price inflation report and the FOMC minutes. The major averages closed the session marginally to modestly lower.

With Wednesday’s retreat, the S&P 500 Index joined the Nasdaq Composite Index in charting a fresh two-year low.

Utility and real estate stocks served as drags, while energy and consumer stocks saw some degree of strength.

Here’s a peek into index futures trading:

In premarket trading on Wednesday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF TrustSPY rose 0.58% to $358.64 and Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ gained 0.34% to $263.55, according to Benzinga Pro data.

On the economic front, the Labor Department will release its consumer price inflation report for September at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Economists, on average, expect the annual rate of the headline inflation to come in at 8.1%, slowing from the 8.3% pace in August. The month-over-month rate is expected to accelerate from 0.1% to 0.2%.

The Labor Department will also release the jobless claims report for the week ended Oct. 8, also at 8:30 a.m. ET. The number of people filing for unemployment benefits may have increased from 219,000 to 225,000.

The routine weekly crude oil inventories will be released by the Energy Information Administration at 11 a.m. EDT.

The Treasury will auction 30-year bonds at 1 p.m. EDT.

See Also: 10 Best Inflation Hedges: Stocks, Cryptos, Government Bonds, And Fractional Investing In Rare Items

Stocks In Focus:

• Semiconductor and chip equipment manufacturers could come under pressure after Applied Materials, Inc. AMAT lowered its October quarter guidance, citing U.S. government’s curb on China chip exports.
• Digital World Acquisition Corp. DWAC — SPAC partner of Donald Trump's TMTG — was skyrocketing after Alphabet, Inc. GOOG GOOGL approved Truth Social for Play Store.
• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited TSM was advancing following the release of its quarterly results.
• Asset manager BlackRock, Inc. BLK, Delta Air Lines, Inc. DAL, Domino’s Pizza, Inc. DPZ and Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. WBA are among the companies releasing their quarterly earnings ahead of the market open.

Large-Cap Pre-Market Movers:

• TotalEnergies SE TTE rallied about 3% in premarket trading.
• Pfizer, Inc. PFE rose about 2.8% following positive Phase 3 data reported by rival GlaxoSmithKline plc. GSK for its respiratory syncytial virus vaccine; Pfizer also has a late-stage vaccine candidate for RSV.
• Chinese e-commerce stocks Pinduoduo, Inc. PDD and JD.com, Inc. JD declined over 2%. Peer Alibaba Group Holding, Inc. BABA fell over 1.50%.

Crude, Global Equity Markets:

Crude oil futures were pulling back for a fourth straight session and traded just above $87-a-barrel on Thursday.

The major Asian markets fell across the board on Thursday, impacted by the uninspiring lead from Wall Street overnight and apprehensions ahead of the U.S. CPI report. The Hong Kong, South Korean, Taiwanese and Singaporean markets were among the biggest losers.

European stocks were attempting to stage a comeback following six sessions of losses.