US pre-open: Futures lower as investors continue to wait for March CPI reading

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were trading lower ahead of the bell on Tuesday as market participants continued to wait for the release of March's all-important inflation data tomorrow. As of 1200 BST, Dow Jones futures were down 0.12%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.09% and 0.11% weaker, respectively.

The Dow closed 11.24 points lower on Monday, taking only a small bite out of gains recorded in last week's final session.

Markets have seemingly entered somewhat of a holding pattern this week, with investors holding out for tomorrow's consumer price index before making any major moves. In addition to tomorrow's CPI release, the Federal Reserve will also publish minutes from its March meeting.

Also of note, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note eased off slightly prior to the open, dropping to 4.398%, while West Texas Intermediate was 0.28% higher at $86.67 a barrel and spot gold prices were up around 0.89% at $2,359.90 per ounce after briefly hitting a fresh record of $2,372.50 on Monday.

Scope Markets' Joshua Mahony said: "Looking ahead, traders will likely see today as the clam before the storm, with central banks, earnings, and inflation set to drive volatility higher over the final three days of the week. The expectation of a rebound in US inflation does raise the likeliness of a risk-off move that could benefit the dollar but come to the detriment of equity markets. While markets now price the June monetary policy decision as a coin-toss for the Fed, the likely rise in US CPI should provide a reminder of likely patient approach being taken by Jerome Powell & co."

On the macro front, the National Federation of Independent Business' small business optimism index fell for a third consecutive month in March, dropping to 88.5 - the lowest reading since December 2012 and well below forecasts for a print of 90.2. Inflation was given as the single most important problem in operating businesses for 25% of those surveyed, higher input and labor costs and up two points from February. Additionally, the net percent of owners who expect real sales to be higher decreased eight points from February to a net -18%.

"Business owners continue to manage numerous economic headwinds. Inflation has once again been reported as the top business problem on Main Street and the labor market has only eased slightly", said NFIB chief economist Bill Dunkelberg.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com