U.S. stock index futures were lower on Wednesday as investors awaited a key reading on inflation to see whether the Federal Reserve was successful in bringing down rising prices.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is expected to have risen 0.4% last month after gaining 0.1% in March, while the so-called core CPI (excluding volatile food and energy components) is expected to remain at 0.4% in April from the prior month. The Labor Department report will be released at 0830 ET (1230 GMT). "If CPI comes in hot, coupled with a stable market, decent earnings and stable jobs, it may not look good for the Fed's future actions," said Sylvia Jablonski, CEO and chief investment officer at Defiance ETFs.
"The direction of rates seems to depend on economic data again, the quasi-banking crisis and liquidity crunch hasn't yet been an active factor that changes Fed course."
The odds favoring a rate cut anytime soon fell after a strong U.S. payrolls report on Friday, with traders now expecting the central bank to hold rates at 5-5.25% till at least July.
Large-cap technology stocks, including Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp, dipped about 0.4% each in premarket trading.
Yields on short-dated U.S. Treasury bills rose after discussions in Washington over raising the U.S. debt ceiling continued.
At 5:34 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 34 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 4.5 points, or 0.11%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 21.5 points, or 0.16%.
Oil and gas producer Occidental Petroleum Corp fell 1.5% after its first-quarter earnings fell short of analysts' estimates.
Livent Corp rose 4.3% after Australian lithium miner Allkem Ltd agreed to buy the U.S.-based chemical manufacturing firm to create a $10.6 billion firm.
(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
