NEW YORK, April 11 — US stock index futures rose today as investors awaited inflation data to gauge the Federal Reserve's next policy moves, while caution prevailed ahead of the quarterly earnings season.
Hopes that the Fed will soon end its aggressive monetary policy tightening have helped the main US equity benchmarks stabilise in April after a selloff last month that was triggered by the collapse of two US mid-sized lenders.
A strong labour market report on Friday, however, lifted bets that the US central bank will increase rates by 25 basis points in May, with money market traders pricing in a nearly 70 per cent chance of such a move, according to CME Group's Fedwatch tool.
All eyes will be on the inflation data tomorrow, with economists forecasting consumer prices to grow 5.2 per cent in March after a 6.0 per cent rise in February. However, core prices are seen rising 5.6 per cent, a slightly faster pace compared with the 5.5 per cent growth in February.
Big US banks Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co will kick off the first-quarter earnings season. Investors will be scrutinising the earnings reports for clues on the overall health of the banking sector.
Analysts expect first-quarter profits at S&P 500 companies to fall 5.2 per cent year-on-year, a stark reversal from the 1.4 per cent annual growth expected at the beginning of the year, according to Refinitiv data.
At 5:56 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 51 points, or 0.15 per cent, S&P 500 e-minis were up 10.75 points, or 0.26 per cent, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 44.75 points, or 0.34 per cent.
Shares of crypto-related companies such as Coinbase Global Inc, Riot Platforms Inc and Marathon Digital Holdings Inc climbed between 3.0 per cent and 4.2 per cent as bitcoin breached the key $30,000 level for the first time in 10 months.
National CineMedia Inc soared 91.7 per cent after AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc disclosed a stake in the theater-focused advertising company.
US-listed shares of Hexo Corp plunged 22.0 per cent after Tilray Brands Inc said it would buy the Canadian cannabis company for US$56 million (RM274.4 million). Tilray's shares also fell 5.8 per cent. — Reuters