S&P, Dow Futures, Higher ahead of Inflation Data

Futures tracking the S&P 500 and the Dow edged higher on Tuesday ahead of inflation data. A slight rise in inflation is likely to show a sign of an economic rebound gathering steam.

Since the start of this month, bond yields have had a steady retreat. It was on expectations that a spike in inflation this year would be transitory. 

This was what has revived demand for high-growth tech stocks. In effect, it sent the S&P 500 and the Dow to record highs.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield inched closer to 1.7%. This is before the Labor Department’s data that’s likely to show U.S. consumer prices added 0.5% in March from 0.4% in February. Moreover, the report is due at 8:30 a.m. ET (1230 GMT).

Investors are also marking time before the start of Q1 earnings season. Results from Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo are on deck on Wednesday.

Earnings for S&P 500 firms to jump 25% from a year ago is expected by analysts. According to data, this is driven by strength in consumer discretionary and financial companies.

Dow E-minis gained 51 points, or 0.15% at 6:06 a.m. ET. The S&P 500 E-minis rose 4 points, or 0.1% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis climbed 3.25 points, or 0.02%.

In premarket trading, U.S.-listed shares of JD.com, which is an e-commerce firm, and Baidu, a search giant, dropped about 2% each. This came as China’s market regulator warned internet companies to stop using any banned practices.

India’s Nifty 50 up 1.36%

On Tuesday, India stocks were higher after the close. Gains in the Auto, Metals and Banking sectors led the shares higher.

The Nifty 50 edged up 1.36% at the close in NSE, while the BSE Sensex 30 index crept higher 1.38%.

On the Nifty 50, the session’s best performers were Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., which rose 7.95% or 59.75 points to trade at 811.25 at the close. 

The top performers on the BSE Sensex 30 were Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., which rose 8.02% to 811.65. Moreover, Bajaj Finserv Ltd which was up 6.43% to settle at 9751.00 and Bajaj Finance Ltd which added 4.75% to close at 4727.40.

On the India National Stock Exchange, the number of rising stocks exceeded the number of declining ones by 1262 to 398 and 51 ended unchanged. On the Bombay Stock Exchange, 1866 were up and 897 were down, while 177 ended unchanged.

The India VIX declined 11.02% to 20.4600.