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Investing.com — U.S. stock futures edged higher Tuesday, with investors expecting key inflation data later in the session to point to the Federal Reserve pausing its aggressive year-long monetary tightening cycle.
By 06:50 ET (10:50 GMT), the contract was up 5 points, less than 0.1%, traded 6 points, or 0.1%, higher and climbed 50 points, or 0.3%.
The main Wall Street indices all closed higher Monday, with the blue chip adding nearly 190 points, or 0.6%, to a 6-week high, the gaining 0.9% to a fresh yearly high, and the tech heavy rising 1.5% to a 14-month peak.
U.S. CPI to guide sentiment
Helping sentiment has been the growing expectation that the will pause its elongated series of rate hikes this week as the policymakers take a step back to consider how well its actions to date have worked to cool inflation.
The for May is due later in the session and is coming just in time to help the Fed make its decision, with stocks likely to receive another boost if inflation data shows a substantial slowdown in price growth.
Analysts expect prices for May to rise 4.1% over the year, a sharp slowdown from 4.9% in April, while , which strip out volatile food and energy, are seen rising 5.3% for the year, down from 5.5%.
According to Investing.com’s , there is a more than 79% chance that the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee will vote to keep borrowing costs steady on Wednesday.
Aiding sentiment, China’s central bank lowered a short-term lending rate for the first time in 10 months, as the authorities seek to boost the flagging recovery in the world’s second-largest economy.
Oracle soars after upbeat forecast
In corporate news, Oracle (NYSE:) stock rose 4% premarket after the cloud and software company reported a strong fourth quarter revenue and forecast an upbeat first quarter, driven by growing demand for its cloud offerings from companies deploying AI.
Home improvement retailer Home Depot (NYSE:) is scheduled to hold its investor and analyst day later Tuesday amid a continued tough housing market, as consumers pull back their do-it-yourself project spending.
Oil rebounds ahead of OPEC monthly report
Oil prices edged higher Tuesday, recovering some of the previous session’s bruising losses on persistent concerns over the demand outlook in China and the U.S.
Both benchmarks dropped over 3.5% on Monday, falling to their lowest levels in almost three months, but traders have since readjusted their positions amid caution ahead of upcoming U.S. inflation data and the conclusion of a Federal Reserve meeting.
The latest from OPEC is due later in the session, as are weekly inventories from industry body .
By 06:50 ET, U.S. crude futures traded 1.8% higher at $68.28 a barrel, while the contract climbed 2% to $73.29.
Additionally, rose 0.4% to $1,977.45/oz, while traded 0.4% higher at 1.0801.
(Oliver Gray contributed to this item)
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