US STOCKS-Futures muted as investors await more economic data

U.S. stock index futures were subdued on Wednesday as investors awaited a slew of economic data this week, including producer prices and retail sales numbers, for hints on the Federal Reserve's policy path. The benchmark S&P 500 climbed to a fresh record high on Tuesday as Oracle shares surged and slightly hot consumer price data failed to dampen hopes of interest-rate cuts in the coming months.

U.S. stock index futures were subdued on Wednesday as investors awaited a slew of economic data this week, including producer prices and retail sales numbers, for hints on the Federal Reserve's policy path.

The benchmark S&P 500 climbed to a fresh record high on Tuesday as Oracle shares surged and slightly hot consumer price data failed to dampen hopes of interest-rate cuts in the coming months. Despite inflation still away from the central bank's target of 2%, investors have taken solace in the fact that the Fed still sees credit conditions easing in 2024, while the economy remains resilient.

Traders now see a 66% chance of the first-rate cut coming in June, the CME FedWatch Tool showed. Since March 2022, the Fed has raised its policy rate by 525 basis points to the current range of 5.25% to 5.50%. "While the February CPI data was noisy across segments, we believe the U.S. economy continues to be in good shape and is heading for a soft landing," said Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, in a note.

On tap later this week is economic data that includes the February producer prices figures on Thursday, which could offer more insight into inflation in the world's largest economy. At 6:44 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 41 points, or 0.11%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 2 points, or 0.04%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 14.75 points, or 0.08%.

Some market participants believe the relentless U.S. stock market rally is poised for a breather, even if it remains unclear whether equities are in a bubble or a strong bull run. Most megacap growth and technology stocks edged down in premarket trading.

Tesla dropped 2.1% in trading before the bell after brokerage Wells Fargo downgraded the electric-vehicle maker to "underweight" from "equal weight". AI giant Nvidia inched 0.6% following its 7.1% jump in the previous session.

Dollar Tree lost 8.5% after the discount chain store group said it would close nearly 1,000 stores in the first half of the year and incurred a net loss for the previous quarter, hurt by an over $1 billion goodwill impairment charge. Peer Dollar General also slid 2.7%. Intel shed 1.5% after a report that the Pentagon had pulled out of a plan to spend as much as $2.5 billion on a chip grant to the company.

Crypto stocks such as MicroStrategy, Marathon Digital, and Bit Digital added 1.3% to 4.6% as bitcoin prices bustled to their third straight intraday record high of $73,678. GE Healthcare Technologies was down 5.6% as General Electric is to cut its stake in the medical equipment firm.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)