Stock futures were little changed on Wednesday afternoon after the S&P 500 notched a fresh record close. Futures connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 17 points, or 0.04%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq-100 futures climbed 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively. Wall Street is coming off fresh record-highs for the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell cautioned that keeping rates elevated for too long could stunt economic growth. The S&P 500 edged up 0.07%, while the Nasdaq added 0.14%. The 30-stock Dow ticked down 52.82 points, or 0.13%. “Reducing policy restraint too late or too little could unduly weaken economic activity and employment,” said Powell, speaking to the Senate Banking Committee as part of his semiannual address to Congress on Tuesday. He continues his testimony Wednesday before the House Financial Services Committee. “More good data would strengthen our confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2%,” Powell added. Wednesday marks a light day for economic data, with a final wholesale inventories reading for May due ahead of the June consumer price index reading on Thursday. The June producer price index will follow on Friday. Many view the upcoming CPI print as a key test for the market and the outlook for rate cuts. “If we get a cooler print on CPI this week and if get a cooler print on PPI, September will get priced in as a lock,” Liz Young Thomas, SoFi’s head of investment strategy, said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Tuesday, cautioning that at some point, cooler data may become too cool. U.S. Treasury bond yields were slightly down on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned that keeping interest rates elevated for too long could stunt economic growth. The 10-year Treasury yield was 2 basis points lower at 4.275%. The 2-year Treasury note yield was little changed at 4.618%. Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Wednesday, with Japan markets hitting new records after inflation data from the country met expectations. Japan’s Nikkei 225 extended gains from Tuesday to reach a fresh closing high of 41,831.99, while the broad-based Topix gained 0.47% to close at 2,909.2, also a record closing high. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was nearly flat as of its final hour of trading, while mainland China’s CSI 300 dropped 0.32% to close at 3,428.96. South Korea’s Kospi was up marginally to 2,867.99, while the small-cap Kosdaq was 0.22% lower and finished at 858.55. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.16%, closing at 7,816.8. Oil prices rose on Wednesday on expectations that U.S. crude and gasoline inventories fell last week, but further gains were limited by the restart of output in the U.S. Gulf as the threat from Hurricane Beryl faded and slack Chinese consumer demand. Brent futures were up 19 cents, or 0.2%, at $84.85 a barrel after falling 1.3% in the previous session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 28 cents, or 0.3%, to $81.69 a barrel, after falling 1.1% in the previous session. U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories fell by 1.923 million barrels and 2.954 million barrels, respectively, according to market sources who cited American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday. Gold prices edged up on Wednesday, a day after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s comments suggested the case for interest rates cuts is getting stronger, while investors braced themselves for a crucial U.S. inflation report. Spot gold rose 0.4% to $2,372.83 per ounce. U.S. gold futures climbed 0.5% to $2,379.20.