US STOCKS-Futures tick up ahead of inflation, retail sales data

"Action Economics reminds us that inflation is coming down, but very slowly, which will likely keep the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) awaiting further reports to confirm that prices are cooling," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA, in a note. The slew of economic data comes ahead of the Fed's policy meeting next week, where the focus will be on cues about how soon the central bank could kick off the rate-easing cycle.

U.S. stock index futures rose on Thursday as investors awaited a raft of economic data, including the producer prices numbers, ahead of a central bank meeting next week.

All eyes are on February producer prices data, due at 8:30 a.m. ET, which will offer insights into the inflation picture and the retail sales figures that could provide additional clues about consumer spending patterns. Also on tap is the weekly jobless claims data at the same time, a marker of the strength of the labor market.

Tuesday's marginally hotter-than-expected consumer price data failed to dampen hopes for rate cuts by the Federal Reserve in the coming months, with traders seeing a 69% chance that the first rate cut will come in June, according to the CME's FedWatch Tool. "Action Economics reminds us that inflation is coming down, but very slowly, which will likely keep the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) awaiting further reports to confirm that prices are cooling," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA, in a note.

The slew of economic data comes ahead of the Fed's policy meeting next week, where the focus will be on cues about how soon the central bank could kick off the rate-easing cycle. "With no rate cut expected, the focus will be squarely on dot plots and potential shifts," Stovall said.

At 05:00 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 129 points, or 0.33%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 17.25 points, or 0.33%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 88.5 points, or 0.48%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed lower on Wednesday, as investors took profits from high-flying chip stocks ahead of the key data.

Chipmakers such as Micron Technology and Intel recovered 0.8% and 1.1%, respectively, in premarket trading, after falling more than 3% each in the previous session. Most megacap growth and technology stocks inched higher, but artificial intelligence (AI) giant Nvidia slipped 0.6%, while Tesla shed 1.5%.

Shares of Robinhood Markets jumped 11.1% after the trading app operator said its assets under custody rose 16% in February. Citigroup added 1.7% after Goldman Sachs raised the lender's rating to "buy" from "neutral".

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs Asset Management's real estate head said it would resume "actively investing" in U.S. commercial property this year because the market was bottoming out. Investors are looking ahead to the global GTC developer conference from March 18 to 21 for AI-related announcements.

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