Futures struggle for direction as markets await inflation data from Reuters

By Purvi Agarwal and Shashwat Chauhan

(Reuters) – Futures tied to major Wall Street indexes were subdued on Tuesday as investors expressed caution ahead of a key inflation report this week that could influence the Federal Reserve’s upcoming interest rate decision.

The November reading of the consumer price index (CPI), expected on Wednesday, is among the last important data sets before the Fed meeting on December 17th and 18th. The report is expected to show a slight increase in headline inflation last month.

Traders’ bets on the Fed making another 25 basis point rate cut next week are over 86%, according to CME’s FedWatch tool. Bets had increased following Friday’s jobs report, which showed a rise in job growth but also a rise in unemployment.

However, bets suggest the central bank is likely to pause its easing cycle in January, as numerous Fed officials suggested last week that monetary easing would slow due to a robust economy.

At 7:00 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 2 points, or 0%, E-minis were up 4.25 points, or 0.07%, and E-minis were up 28.5 points, or 0.13%.

Major Wall Street indexes closed lower on Monday, under pressure from technology stocks whose declines were led by Nvidia (NASDAQ:) after China’s market regulator launched an antitrust investigation into the AI ​​chip giant. Its shares fell 0.5% in premarket trading on Tuesday.

“With most stock indices posting significant gains in November, especially after Trump’s re-election, red sessions like yesterday’s are very useful in containing expectations of a sustained rally,” wrote Achilleas Georgolopoulos, market analyst at forex broker XM, in a morning note.

US stocks started their year-end journey broadly positive, with the benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq posting gains in their first week, building on a stellar November following Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election.

The president-elect’s potential tax cuts and easing measures in the new administration are expected to boost corporate performance.

Most megacap and growth stocks posted slight gains, although Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:) fared better, rising 2.2%.

Oracle (NYSE:), among others, fell 7.9% after the cloud computing company missed Wall Street’s estimates for second-quarter results and forecast its third-quarter profit below estimates.

C3.ai (NYSE:) climbed 7.7% after the AI ​​software maker raised its fiscal 2025 revenue forecast MongoDB (NASDAQ:) slipped 6.3% despite raising full-year earnings guidance.

Pinterest (NYSE:) slipped 2.3% after Piper Sandler downgraded the image-sharing platform’s rating to “neutral” from “overweight,” while eBay (NASDAQ:) fell 3.7% as Jefferies lowered the e-commerce company’s rating to “underperform” from “hold.”