U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Thursday, with investors holding back ahead of pivotal inflation data expected to guide the Federal Reserve’s next moves on interest rates.
A reading of consumer prices is due at 8:30 a.m. ET, with inflation expected to have picked up in August, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
Last month's producer inflation numbers, released on Wednesday, fell unexpectedly, boosting expectations of interest-rate cuts from the Fed at its meeting next week.
Recent economic indicators have shown the U.S. labor market was weaker than previously thought, bringing bets on a bigger-than-usual 50-basis-point trim in September to 10.2%, according to CME's FedWatch tool.
Continued labor market weakness, especially weak nonfarm payrolls data for July and August, prompted investors to fully price in at least 25 bps of easing at the central bank's September 16-17 meeting.
"We expect... forthcoming consumer price inflation data today to also keep the door open for a resumption in U.S. interest-rate cuts," said Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management.
"The combination of a moderation in jobs growth and still-manageable inflation should keep the Fed on track to cut rates, with a 25-basis-point cut expected in September."
A weekly reading of jobless claims data is also due alongside the inflation report.
At 05:15 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis rose 22 points, or 0.05%, S&P 500 E-minis added 7.75 points, or 0.12%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 47.75 points, or 0.20%.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq notched record high closes on Wednesday, partly helped by a nearly 36% surge in Oracle after an upbeat forecast that brought the cloud computing company closer to joining the trillion-dollar club.
It revived the AI trade on Wednesday, sparking a rally in artificial-intelligence-linked chip and utility companies supplying power to data centers.
Oracle rose 1.5% in premarket trading on Thursday.
Wall Street's three main indexes have had a broadly positive start to September, a month deemed historically bad for U.S. equities, when the benchmark S&P 500 has shed 1.5% on average since 2000, data compiled by LSEG showed.
Gun stocks also climbed before the bell, extending their rally from the previous session after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot dead at a university in Utah on Wednesday.
GrabAGun gained 3.9% and Smith & Wesson Brands was up 3.7%.
Stocks linked to ether rose, tracking gains in the cryptocurrency. Sharplink Gaming advanced 2.1%, Bit Digital was up 2.5% and Bitmine Immersion Technologies was 5.3% higher.
