Dow futures climb strongly after cooler than expected U.S. inflation data

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Investing.com -- U.S. stock futures rose strongly Wednesday, adding to the previous session’s gains after cooler-than-expected U.S. inflation data offered hope that the Federal Reserve will shortly end its cycle of interest rate hikes.

By 08:35 ET (12:35 GMT), the Dow futures contract was up 185 points, or 0.5%, S&P 500 futures traded 32 points, or 0.7% higher, and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 147 points, or 1%.

U.S. June CPI comes in below expectations

The headline consumer price index rose by 3.0% in June, below the 3.1% expected, the slowest annual increase since March 2021, with a 0.2% monthly increase. The annual core rate dropped to 4.8% from 5.3%, dropping for the third consecutive month.

Market participants have largely priced in that the Fed will hike in July as inflation remains above the central bank’s medium-term target, but a great deal of uncertainty still exists about how many more hikes are left in the tank.

Optimism grips Wall Street

Wednesday’s expected gains will continue the positive start to the new week, as the three benchmark indices closed substantially higher Tuesday on the back of comments from Federal Reserve policy makers suggesting that the rate-hiking cycle may soon be at an end.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gained over 300 points, or 0.9%, while the broad-based S&P 500 closed 0.7% higher, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite up 0.6%.

More Fed officials are slated to speak Wednesday, including Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari and Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester.

Arm looking to Nvidia for IPO investment - report

In corporate news, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) will be in the spotlight after the Financial Times reported that Arm is in negotiations with the U.S. chipmaker over it becoming an anchor investor in the U.K.-based chip designer’s planned initial public offering.

Arm hopes that Nvidia, which earlier this year became the first chipmaker to touch a more than $1 trillion valuation, will take a long-term stake at its IPO stage.

Elsewhere, Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) $69 billion merger with Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) was given a massive boost Tuesday after a federal court judge rejected U.S. antitrust concerns over the deal.

Crude stable; EIA predicts higher demand

Oil prices rose Wednesday, helped by the inflation data as well as predictions of higher demand by the U.S. Energy Information Administration balancing out higher U.S. crude stockpiles.

The EIA released its short-term energy outlook on Tuesday, and projected demand would outpace supply by 100,000 barrels a day in 2023 and by 200,000 barrels a day in 2024.

This comes as major oil producers, Saudi Arabia and Russia, have announced additional output cuts for August, while the U.S. dollar fell to two-month lows, supporting the oil market.

However, data from the American Petroleum Institute cooled the rally as U.S. crude stockpiles unexpectedly grew by over 3 million barrels in the week to July 7. The official numbers from the Energy Information Administration are due later in the session.

By 08:35 ET, the U.S. crude futures traded 0.9% higher at $75.50 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 0.7% to $79.97.

Additionally, gold futures rose 0.7% to $1,950.50/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.4% higher at 1.1054.

(Oliver Gray contributed to this item.)