S&P 500 futures were higher on Tuesday after headline inflation largely met consensus estimates in February while the core reading increased more-than-expected. Futures tied to the broad market index climbed 0.6%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 133 points, or 0.3%, while Nasdaq-100 futures added 0.8%. Inflation climbed 0.4%% in February and 3.2% year-over-year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Tuesday. Economist polled by Dow Jones expected a 0.4% increase last month and 3.1% year-over-year, respectively. Core inflation, which strips out food and energy from the headline reading, climbed 0.4% in February, compared to a forecast gain of 0.3%. The uptick in January’s CPI figure rattled the markets and prompted Fed officials to shift their rhetoric afterward to a more cautious tone about easing policy. The current market pricing indicates that the Fed won’t cut interest rates at its meeting on March 19-20 or the one on April 30 to May 1. The technology-led market rally has lost momentum as of late as some of the biggest winners this year retreat. Nvidia lost another 2% Monday, after dropping more than 5% Friday, its largest one-day decline since May 2023. Some of the other members of the “Magnificent Seven” also pulled back recently. Apple shares have lost 8.5% in the past month, while Alphabet has slid 7.6%. Microsoft has retreated nearly 4% during the same period and Tesla has fallen 8.2%. “As the market broadens beyond mega-cap tech names, investors can expect to see more consolidation and fairly modest returns in the high-level market-based indexes,” said Mark Hackett, Nationwide’s chief of investment research. U.S. Treasury yields were little changed Tuesday as investors assessed key inflation data that came in about as expected. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was flat at 4.108%. The yield on the 2-year Treasury rose by more than 1 basis point at 4.551%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose over 3% to lead gains in Asia-Pacific markets and was set to extend its winning streak to three days, while mainland China’s CSI 300 rose 0.23% to close at 3,597.49. This comes as Japan’s corporate inflation rate for February rose to 0.6%, beating the 0.5% expected by economists polled by Reuters and climbing from January’s figure of 0.2%. A strong inflation reading could also clear the way for the Bank of Japan to raise rates soon, which would weigh on Japan’s equity markets. Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped for a second straight day, losing 0.06% and closing at 38,797.51, while the broad based Topix was down 0.36% and ended at 2,657.24. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rebounded and gained 0.11%, closing at 7,712.5. South Korea’s Kospi also regained some ground, trading up 0.83% to finish at 2,681.81, while the small cap Kosdaq climbed 1.57% to 889.71, its highest level since September 2023. Oil prices rose in early Asian trading, but price moves were limited as the market waited for monthly reports from oil agencies. Brent futures for May delivery rose 23 cents to $82.44 a barrel by 0221 GMT. The U.S. crude April contract rose 17 cents to end at $78.10 a barrel. Gold edged further away from a record peak on Tuesday as it looks set to break nine straight sessions of gains ahead of critical U.S. inflation data that could pave the way for imminent interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Spot gold last fell 0.49% to $2,171.79 per ounce, trading below a record high of $2,194.99 it hit on Friday. U.S. gold futures also dipped 0.5% to $2,177.7.