US pre-open: Futures mixed ahead of April PPI reading

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were pointing to a mixed open ahead of the bell on Wednesday as market participants patiently awaited yet another key inflation report.

As of 1245 BST, Dow Jones futures were down 0.17%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.28% and 0.83% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 56.09 points higher on Tuesday, extending gains recorded in the previous session, despite a hotter-than-expected April consumer price index reading.

April's producer price index will likely be market participants' primary focus on Wednesday, set for release at 1330 BST, with traders expecting to see a headline increase of 0.5% month-on-month, in line with March's rise. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core PPI was expected to increase 0.4% on the month.

Donald Trump's the high-stakes meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping was also likely to draw an amount of investor attention. The summit follows treasury secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese vice premier He Lifeng's meeting in South Korea, where the two sides held a discussion centred on economic and trade issues.

In the corporate space, Nvidia traded higher in pre-market action after Donald Trump invited chief executive Jensen Huang to join him on his journey to China, while Alibaba's US-listed shares headed south following the company's announcement that core profitability had slumped in the three months ended 31 March amid heavy investments in tech and e-commerce.

Elsewhere on the macro front, mortgage applications increased by 1.7% in the week ended 8 May, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, despite consistently high borrowing costs, with benchmark mortgage rates rising to their highest level in more than a month. Applications to buy a new home rose 4%, reflecting some traction for new residences, while applications to refinance a mortgage, which are typically more sensitive to short-term interest rate changes, softened by 1%.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com