US pre-open: Futures trade higher as investors await key inflation reports

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were in the green ahead of the bell on Monday as major indices tried to right the ship after a brutal first week of September trading. As of 1255 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.68%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.70% and 0.81% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 410.34 points lower on Friday as market participants digested July's all-important nonfarm jobs report, which revealed nonfarm payrolls grew by just 142,000, missing the 161,000 gain expected by economists.

As far as the new week was concerned, investors will look ahead to two key inflation reports that could further influence the Federal Reserve's thinking ahead of its open market committee meeting later in the month, with August consumer and producer price reports slated for release on Wednesday and Thursday morning, respectively.

Scope Markets' Joshua Mahony said: " With the CME signalling a deterioration in pricing around a 50-basis point cut next week (from 50% to 25%), we are looking ahead to Wednesday's CPI inflation release as the key determinant of sentiment going forward. September has a reputation as the toughest month for stocks, but there is a hope that a slump in US CPI could see the buyers step in as the soft landing calls come back into play."

On the macro front, July wholesale inventories figures will be out at 1500 BST, while July consumer credit change numbers will follow at 2000 BST.

In the corporate space, while second-quarter earnings season has now largely ended, software giant Oracle will report earnings after the close on Monday, while Petco, Dave & Busters, GameStop, Kroger and Adobe will all report earnings before the week is out.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com