Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on August 2, 2023.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Stock futures oscillated near a flat line Wednesday evening as Wall Street braced for the latest inflation data and the start of fourth-quarter earnings season.
Futures tied to S&P 500 added 0.02% while Nasdaq 100 futures increased by 0.08%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipped 12 points, or 0.03%.
In an off-hours event, KB home page shares lost 2%. The homebuilder reported fourth-quarter results and issued a full-year revenue estimate of $6.4 billion to $6.8 billion, while analysts polled by FactSet had called for $6.62 billion.
Stocks are coming off a winning session, with all three major indices rising. The S&P 500 added 0.57% while Nasdaq Composite profit 0.75%. 30 supplies Dow advanced 0.45%.
Investors are turning their attention to December’s consumer price index report due Thursday morning. Economists polled by Dow Jones forecast that the CPI rose 0.2% in December, or 3.2% year-on-year.
Inflation data will be a key catalyst for markets and could provide evidence of whether the Federal Reserve’s tightening measures have done enough to lower prices. The results could also test market expectations of six rate cuts in 2024 against the central bank’s forecast of three cuts this year.
Elsewhere, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday approved rule changes that opened the door to bitcoin exchange-traded funds. The long-awaited move would expand investor access to the flagship cryptocurrency. Bitcoin ticked down on the news on Wednesday evening, while Ether rose.
Investors are also looking ahead to the opening of the fourth-quarter earnings season, which will feature banking giants American bank and JPMorgan Chase report results on Friday.