Futures listed on the New York Stock Exchange stagnated on Wednesday as investors await Thursday’s U.S. consumer inflation reading. Markets are hopeful that the data will show signs that inflation is continuing to cool, thereby raising the possibility of the Federal Reserve introducing interest rate cuts as soon as March.
During early trading on Wednesday, futures on the Nasdaq 100 fell by 0.2% while those on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down by 0.1%. Contracts listed on the S&P 500 hovered around the flatline. This comes after the tech-heavy Nasdaq came away with the only win among the three major indices during the previous session.
In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin steadied at around $45,000 after the SEC’s official X account posted that a hack was to blame for a false post that claimed that the regulator had approved spot bitcoin ETFs. The SEC is set to determine this week whether investment firms such as BlackRock and Ark Invest will be permitted to offer such funds.