US pre-open: Stocks to edge up as investors eye inflation data

US stock futures pointed to a slightly firmer open on Wall Street on Tuesday as investors eyed a key inflation reading.

At 1110 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.1%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were 0.2% higher.

Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets, said many were "clearly content to sit on the sidelines ahead of those key US inflation readings which are due for publication tomorrow".

"The prints here are likely to prove instrumental in shaping the market’s view of where the Fed goes next - critically a 25 basis point hike is now close on fully priced in for the meeting at the end of July, but we’re seeing an increasingly hawkish mindset emerge for the latter part of the summer, too.

"Even once the inflation prints are published, attention will quickly swing to earnings news, with reporting season now just a couple of days away. Investors will be keen to see if consumer appetite for discretionary spending is now starting to wane as living costs and the end of the post-Covid bounce back converge. Anything that underlines this outlook could see downside pressure on stocks resume."

The consumer price index for June is scheduled for release on Wednesday, while the producer price index is due on Thursday.

On the corporate front, second-quarter earnings season will kick off this week, with results due from the likes of JPMorgan, Citigroup and Wells Fargo, among others.