Stock futures rose slightly Monday, with Wall Street looking toward fresh inflation data this week. Futures tied to the S&P 500 gained 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.2%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 56 points, or 0.3%. The 30-stock Dow is coming off of its eighth-straight winning session on Friday as well as its best week of the year. Investors will look for insights into the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy moving forward with April’s consumer price index report due out on Wednesday. Traders hope that a return to rate hikes is largely off the table for the Fed despite a slew of hotter-than-expected inflation prints in recent months. April’s CPI print will serve as a key gauge of whether equities can remain on stable footing after a stronger-than-expected first-quarter earnings season. Results so far have helped stocks remain resilient despite the inflation overhang. 92% of S&P 500 companies have reported as of Friday, with nearly 80% of firms surpassing Wall Street forecasts, per FactSet data. “Earnings estimates may have become too pessimistic leading into 1Q24 results, and widespread beat-and-raise throughout reporting season appears to have catalyzed a turnaround in sentiment,” Barclays analyst Venu Krishna wrote Friday. U.S. Treasury yields fell slightly Monday as investors looked to key inflation data and comments from Federal Reserve officials slated for the week. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was down by 2 basis points at 4.483%. The 2-year Treasury yield was last at 4.849% after also falling by 2 basis points. Asia-Pacific markets were largely lower Monday as investors assessed China’s stronger-than-expected April inflation data. China’s consumer price index climbed 0.3% year on year, beating Reuters’ estimates of a 0.2% rise. Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.13% lower at 38,179.46 and the broad-based Topix fell 0.15% to end at 2,724.08. South Korea’s Kospi ended flat at 2,727.21, while the small-cap Kosdaq fell 1.13% to close at 854.43. The Australian S&P/ASX 200 closed flat at 7,750. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.76%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 index fell marginally to finish at 3,664.69. China’s finance ministry said Monday it would start sales of long-term special treasury bonds worth 1 trillion yuan ($138.24 billion) this week. Oil prices were little changed on Monday after losing about $1 a barrel in the previous session on signs that U.S. policymakers are likely to keep interest rates higher for longer. Brent crude futures were up 21 cents at $83 a barrel by 1036 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 27 cents at $78.53. Gold prices fell on Monday, as investors awaited key U.S. inflation data due later this week, which could shed light on the timing of the Federal Reserve’s first rate cut. Spot gold was down 0.8% to $2,341.70 per ounce after hitting its highest level since April 22 on Friday. It was headed for its biggest daily decline in nearly two weeks. U.S. gold futures fell 1.1% to $2,348.10. “Probably some profit-taking ahead of the important CPI data this week is weighing on gold prices today. To see a further uptick in gold prices, there needs to be a clear slowdown in inflation readings,” UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said. “I would expect gold prices to stay supported around current levels, with modest downside.”
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