US pre-open: Futures higher ahead of PPI reading
Wall Street futures had stocks opening higher on Thursday ahead of the release of last month's producer price index.
As of 1230 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.46%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.31% and 0.19% firmer, respectively.
The Dow closed 535.10 points higher on Wednesday after July's CPI reading came in cooler than expected.
Thursday's primary focus will likely be July's PPI reading at 1330 BST, with economists expecting to see the index increase 0.2% month-on-month, a marked deceleration when compared to the previous month's 1.1% rise.
CMC Markets' Michael Hewson said: "Ultimately any slowdown in inflationary pressures needs to be viewed through a prism of whether we see rate hikes of 50bps or slower, post the September meeting.
"To that end with recent weakness in prices paid data pointing to a similar slowdown in inflation, todays PPI numbers, which tend to be more forward looking are likely to be as important, if not more so when it comes to what’s coming from the next CPI number, which comes during the Fed blackout period, just before the September meeting."
Elsewhere on the macro front, jobless claims data for the week ended 6 August will also be published at 1330 BST.
In the corporate space, Rivian, Warby Parker and Poshmark will all report earnings on Thursday.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com