US pre-open: Stocks lower ahead of CPI data, jobless claims

Wall Street futures were in the red ahead of the bell on Wednesday as market participants awaited another key inflation reading later in the day.

As of 1215 GMT, Dow Jones futures were down 0.23%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.32% and 0.52% lower, respectively.

The Dow closed 112.24 points lower on Tuesday after the release of October's producer price index data revealed a 0.6% drop, in line with consensus estimates.

Wednesday's primary focuses will be October's inflation report at 1330 GMT, with the latest consumer price index reading from the Labor Department expected to show a 0.6% monthly increase, or a year-on-year gain of 5.9%, the largest in three decades,

AvaTrade's Naeem Aslam said: "In terms of today's price action, traders and investors and going to be laser-focussed on one thing and one thing only and that is the US CPI data. The debate of inflation being transitory or not transitory can flare up further on the back of this reading. Of course, what everyone likes to see is inflation cooling off a little a bit and easing off from its highs.

"However, the probabilities aren't in favour of that happening. If we do get to see a reading which confirms that inflation is only a one-way trade, we could see traders becoming more nervous and that can trigger an intense sell-off for the tech stocks—a trend which have seen repeatedly this year."

Also slated for release at 1330 GMT, this week's jobless claims report from the Labor Department, coming in a day earlier than usual due to tomorrow's Veteran's Day holiday, was anticipated to reveal an initial jobless claims print of 265,000, another fresh Covid-era low.

Elsewhere on the macro front, mortgage rates slipped for a second straight week in the seven days ended 5 November, down to 3.16% from 3.24%, helping boost refinance demand across the US. As a result, total mortgage application volume rose 5.5% week-on-week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's seasonally adjusted index.

Still to come, September's wholesale inventories data will be published at 1500 GMT.

In the corporate space, Disney and Bumble will both report earnings after the close on Wednesday.