U.S. Stocks May See Initial Strength Following Inflation Data

After ending the previous session sharply higher, stocks are likely to see further upside in early trading on Tuesday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a higher open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by 0.6 percent.

The upward momentum on Wall Street comes following the release of a Labor Department report showing U.S. consumer prices increased in line with economist estimates in the month of January.

The report said the consumer price index climbed by 0.5 percent in January following a revised 0.1 percent uptick in December.

Economists had expected consumer prices to rise by 0.5 percent compared to the 0.1 percent dip originally reported for the previous month.

Excluding food and energy prices, core consumer prices rose by 0.4 percent in January, matching a revised increase in December as well as economist estimates.

The Labor Department also said the annual rate of growth in consumer prices slowed to 6.4 percent in January from 6.5 percent in December.

While the year-over-year price growth reflected the smallest increase since October 2021, economists had expected the pace of annual growth to slow to 6.2 percent.

The annual rate of core consumer price growth slowed to 5.6 percent in January from 5.7 percent in December. The pace of growth was expected to slow to 5.5 percent.

Following the mixed performance seen in the previous sessions, stocks showed a strong move to the upside during trading on Monday.

The Dow jumped 376.66 points or 1.1 percent to 34,245.93, the Nasdaq surged 173.67 points or 1.5 percent to 11,891.79 and the S&P 500 shot up 46.83 points or 1.1 percent to 4,137.29.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index climbed by 0.6 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index edged up by 0.2 percent.

The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 0.5 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.4 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.3 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are tumbling $1.35 to $78.79 a barrel after rising $0.42 to $80.14 a barrel on Monday. Meanwhile, after falling $11 to $1,863.50 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are inching up $2.10 to $1,865.60 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 132.33 yen compared to the 132.42 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Monday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.0764 compared to yesterday’s $1.0723.

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