US pre-open: Futures point to slight gains, Boeing and Exxon in focus

Wall Street futures are pointing slightly higher ahead of the start of trading in the US as investors bide their time ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting scheduled for the next day.

Investors were also waiting on a slew of economic releases due out later in the session, including a reading on May retail sales and factory gate prices.

As of 1033 BST, futures on the Dow Jones Industrials were gaining 16.0 points to 34,291.0, alongside a 4.5 point rise for those tracking the S&P 500 to 4,250.25.

Nasdaq-100 futures meanwhile were up 17.50 points at 14,134.75.

The day before, both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite had managed to eke out fresh record highs.

According to Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda, "position shuffling" across asset classes was the predominant feature of markets on Tuesday.

In his opinion, May's producer price report, which was due out at 1330 BST, represented the most likely source of risk during the session given markets' current concerns regarding inflation.

According to Bank of America, 72% of the fund managers who took part in a survey, the results of which were published on Tuesday morning, described the current inflation pressures as "transitory".

Fund managers' biggest 'overweight' by sectors? Banks.

JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon however was unconvinced, telling a conference the day before that the lender was "hoarding" cash in anticipation of higher interest rates because there was a "very good chance" that inflation was here to stay.

Elsewhere on the corporate front, Boeing stock was up 1% before the opening bell following reports that Brussels and Washington had agreed a five-year truce in their long-running dispute about each others' subsidies to their respective aircraft makers.

Exxon Mobil was also in the spotlight, after analysts at Bank of America told clients the oil major was likely to hike its dividend before the end of 2021.