U.S. stock futures ticked higher early Wednesday as investors awaited the July consumer price index report, with strong overnight earnings from AI infrastructure companies adding further support. The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq had all pulled back modestly a day earlier as oil prices climbed.
Dow Jones futures edged higher early Wednesday, while S&P 500 futures advanced 0.25% and Nasdaq-100 futures climbed 0.65%, with the July consumer price index report due before the opening bell. Nvidia partners Lumentum, Super Micro Computer and CoreWeave posted strong overnight earnings, lifting AI hardware and buildout stocks broadly.
CPI report looms over Fed rate path
The Labor Department will release the July inflation report at 8:30 a.m. ET. Core CPI is expected to rise 0.2% from June, with the 12-month reading forecast to dip to 2.5% from 2.6%, a tame result that could ease calls for a September Fed rate hike.
Separately, the headline CPI is forecast to have rebounded 0.1% in July after falling 0.4% in June, with the 12-month rate seen easing to 3.4% from 3.5%, according to a Reuters survey of economists. Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, told Reuters: "Today's U.S. CPI print will give an idea of how fast inflation could fade…" Money market pricing is currently split evenly between a 25-basis-point rate hike and a pause in September, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.
AI infrastructure earnings drive premarket gains
CoreWeave surged more than 15% after posting strong quarterly results and guidance released after Tuesday's close, with Nvidia holding a strategic stake in the AI compute company. Separately, CoreWeave jumped 18.6% in premarket trading after lifting its annual capital-spending forecast and topping second-quarter earnings estimates, Reuters reported. Super Micro Computer advanced 9.1% after forecasting fiscal 2027 revenue above Wall Street expectations. Neocloud peer Nebius Group jumped 9.3% as well.
Tuesday's pullback
The Dow fell 0.4% and the S&P 500 declined 0.3% in Tuesday's session, while the small-cap Russell 2000 rose 0.3%. Alphabet dropped 3.8% and Amazon fell 2.1%, weighing on the major indexes. Meanwhile, oil prices rose 1.3% to $83.20 a barrel on waning hopes for a Strait of Hormuz deal.
Sources: Investor's Business Daily, Investing.com
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