S&P 500 futures rose Thursday after the 500-stock benchmark posted its best day since November, on the back of a tame inflation report and blowout bank results. Traders are also looking ahead to more big bank earnings. S&P 500 futures were 0.2% higher, while Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.3%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipped 94 points, or about 0.2%. Bank of America shares inched higher after the company reported an earnings and revenue beat in the prior quarter. Shares of Morgan Stanley climbed 1.3% after also posting a top- and bottom-line beat in the fourth quarter on strong investment banking activity and fixed income trading revenue. The results come a day after other financial peers such as JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs also beat fourth-quarter estimates. On Wednesday, the 30-stock Dow surged more than 700 points, or 1.65%, while the S&P 500 rallied 1.83%. The Nasdaq Composite outperformed, advancing 2.45%. The small-cap Russell 2000 gained about 2%. A moderate improvement in core inflation in December’s consumer price index and strong earnings from big banks spurred a risk-on rally. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield pulled back sharply from a 14-month high reached earlier in the week. It last hovered around 4.667%. “The bond market was starting to price in the risk of further hikes, and so you get this slightly softer-than-expected inflation data, which allows you to have this big relief rally, mostly in the interest rate sensitive parts of the market,” Cameron Dawson, NewEdge Wealth’s chief investment officer, said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.” “Doesn’t mean that we’re necessarily out of the woods for things like small caps, in the volatility that they’ve been experiencing,” she added. “But the sigh of relief is welcome.” Wall Street will glean more insight into the state of the economy Thursday. The December retail sales report is expected to show a 0.5% increase, down from a 0.7% rise the previous month, according to a Dow Jones consensus estimate. Weekly jobless claims are also due. Elsewhere, Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Treasury Secretary, will sit down before the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance Thursday morning, a hearing investors will parse for clues into tariffs and other policies from the incoming administration. Asia-Pacific markets mostly climbed Thursday, after U.S. markets soared on the back of an unexpected decline in core inflation numbers in December and strong bank earnings. Korea’s central bank surprised market watchers by keeping benchmark rates unchanged at 3%. Economists polled by Reuters had expected the Bank of Korea to cut its policy rate by 25 basis points. South Korea’s Kospi ended the day up 1.23% to 2,527.49, while the small-cap Kosdaq index was up 1.77% to 724.24 following the announcement. The Korean won last weakened slightly to trade at 1,456.91 against the greenback. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 closed up 0.33% to 38,572.60, while the Topix lost 0.09% to 2,688.31. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 1.08% in its final hour of trade, while mainland China’s CSI 300 gained 0.11% to end the day at 3,800.38. Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 ended the day up 1.38% at 8,327. Oil prices fell back slightly on Thursday, a day after settling at multi-month highs on the latest U.S. sanctions on Russia and a larger-than-forecast fall in U.S. crude stocks. Brent crude futures were down 88 cents, or 1.1%, to $81.15 per barrel, after rising 2.6% in the previous session to their highest since July 26 last year. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures slid 93 cents, or 1.2%, to $79.07 a barrel, after gaining 3.3% on Wednesday to their highest since July 19. U.S. crude oil stocks fell last week to their lowest since April 2022 as exports rose and imports fell, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday. Gold prices firmed near one-month highs hit earlier on Thursday after a softer-than-expected core U.S. inflation print increased chances of two Federal Reserve rate cuts this year, with the first likely in June. Spot gold gained 0.3% to $2,704.76 per ounce after hitting its highest level since Dec. 12 earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures gained 0.5% to $2,729.90.