On Tuesday, U.S. stock futures showed an upward trend, with contracts for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 each advancing by 0.3%, while Dow Jones futures increased approximately 70 points. This movement followed a lower-than-anticipated core Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, which bolstered expectations that the Federal Reserve will continue with interest rate cuts throughout the year. The December CPI data revealed that core inflation rose by 0.2% over the month, and the annual core rate remained constant at 2.6%, both of which were lower than predicted figures of 0.3% and 2.7%. As a result, traders are anticipating two interest rate cuts within the year, with the likelihood of the initial reduction occurring in April increasing in light of the new data.
Simultaneously, the earnings season commenced on a mixed note. JPMorgan shares, despite outperforming earnings and revenue expectations, saw an early increase that diminished to a 0.3% decline in pre-market trading. Likewise, shares of Bank of New York Mellon inched down by 0.1% due to underwhelming results. In contrast, Delta Air Lines experienced a significant drop of nearly 4.4% after projecting adjusted earnings per share for the year in the range of $6.50 to $7.50, which fell short of analysts' consensus estimate of $7.25.