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U.S. stock futures were lower Wednesday as Wall Street awaited the latest consumer price index data for insights on the pace of inflation.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials lost 97 points, or 0.2%, to 43,977.
Futures for the S&P 500 subsided 9.75 points, or 0.2%, to 6,003.25.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite Index dialed back 44 points, or 0.2%, to 21,145.50.
The major averages fell during Tuesday’s session as the market took a breather from its postelection rally. The 30-stock Dow fell around 382 points, or 0.9%. The S&P 500 declined 0.3%, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ inched down 0.1%.
Part of the market decline Tuesday “is just a little bit of a profit-taking based on the strong gains — especially post election — and some of it may be just some positioning ahead of tomorrow’s inflation report and Friday’s retail sales report,” according to one market watcher.
Investors will be looking toward October’s CPI numbers, scheduled for release Wednesday morning, to see how much the costs of goods and services have risen. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones are expecting the CPI to increase 0.2% for the month and 2.6% year over year. The pace of price increases is also one of the key components to informing the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut or maintain interest rates.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.7% Wednesday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng inched lower 0.1%.
Oil prices edged ahead eight cents to $68.20 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices regained $9.40 to $2,615.70 U.S. an ounce.
