Wall St set for higher open as inflation data cements December rate-cut hopes

By Purvi Agarwal and Shashwat Chauhan

(Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes were set for a higher open on Wednesday after an in-line inflation reading kept intact bets on the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates later this month.

A Labor Department report showed the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.3% on a monthly basis in November, compared with the 0.3% increase forecast by economists polled by Reuters. Annually, it stood at 2.7%, in line with estimates.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile components such as food and energy, came in at 3.3% as expected.

“Everything’s exactly in line with estimates … it’s very likely that you will see the Fed probably go ahead with what they projected, cutting 25 basis points (later this month),” said David Miller, chief investment officer at Catalyst Funds.

Bets on the Fed cutting 25 basis point cut next week jumped to over 96%, compared with an 86% chance before the data, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool. Bets had risen following Friday’s employment report, which showed an uptick in unemployment alongside a surge in job growth.

At 8:41 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 64 points, or 0.14%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 20.5 points, or 0.34% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 114.5 points, or 0.53%.

Most megacap and growth stocks were higher in premarket trading, with Tesla up 2.1% and Nvidia gaining 1.6%.

Wall Street’s main indexes ended the previous session lower, weighed down by heavyweight technology stocks, yet the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were near record levels.

U.S. equities have had a broadly positive start to December, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq clocking gains in their first week, after ending November on a strong note.

Also expected this week is a producer prices reading on Thursday.

Among other movers, GameStop gained 2.9% after the videogame retailer reported a profit for the third quarter on cost-saving efforts.

General Motors was up 1.8% after the automaker said on Tuesday that it would end robotaxi development at its majority-owned, money-losing Cruise business.

Macy’s slumped 11.5% after the department-store bellwether cut its annual profit forecast as persistent weakness in demand clouded its expectations for the holiday shopping season.

(Reporting by Purvi Agarwal and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Maju Samuel)