Wall St futures slip ahead of inflation data

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures edged lower on Thursday ahead of monthly producer prices data that could offer clues on how long the Federal Reserve will have to keep raising interest rates to tame stubbornly high inflation.

Producer prices are expected to have climbed by 0.4% in January, on a month-on-month basis, according to a Reuters poll of economists, following a 0.4% fall in the previous month.

However, the numbers are expected to have cooled to 5.4% on an annual basis, after a 6.2% increase in December.

After a torrid 2022, the main stock indexes have climbed this year on the back of upbeat earnings and expectations that the U.S. central bank will switch to smaller rate hikes, pushing investors to scoop up beaten-down growth stocks.

However, signs of a resilient economy and an acceleration in January consumer prices have recently raised concerns among traders that the central bank may not hit pause on its hawkish policies anytime soon, let alone pivot to cutting rates later this year.

The Fed is seen pushing the benchmark rate above the 5% mark by May and keep it above those levels till the year-end.

At 7:14 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 24 points, or 0.07%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 6.5 points, or 0.16%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 27.25 points, or 0.21%.

Separately, January housing starts and weekly jobless claims data will be released before the opening bell.

Traders will also scrutinize remarks from a number of central bank officials including Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard later in the day to assess the central banks tone on monetary policy going forward.

Among stocks, Cisco Systems Inc rose 3% in premarket trading after the network gear maker raised its full-year earnings forecast.

Roku Inc soared 12.1% after the company forecast first-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates.

Shopify Inc fell 9.7% after the Canadian retailer forecast slowing revenue growth for the current quarter despite price hikes and new product launches.

(Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil DSilva)