JPMorgan to kick off Q3 earnings
U.S. stock futures were crept higher early Wednesday, as market participants prepared for a busy day with the start of the third-quarter earnings season and CPI data.
As of 5:50 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow were marked 51 points, or 0.15% higher to 34,311.
S&P 500 futures gained 9.75 points, or 0.22% to 4,350.50 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures added 70.75 points, or 0.48% to 14,724.
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and Delta Air Lines are due to report before the opening bell. Analysts expect the JPMorgan to have earned $3.00 per share on revenue of $29.79 billion.
Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup report tomorrow morning. Goldman Sachs will announce its results on Friday.
September inflation data on tap
On the economic data front, traders will be watching as the U.S. Labor Department releases its consumer inflation report for September.
The report, due before the market opens, is expected to show consumer prices continued to jump at the same rapid pace as August.
Economists surveyed by the Dow Jones expect to see a jump of 0.3% month-over-month, or a 5.3% annualized rate, when the consumer price index is released.
Excluding volatile energy and food prices, CPI is seen rising 0.3%, or 4% annualized.
Apple trims iPhone 13 production
Meanwhile, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares were trading lower in the pre-market trading session amid reports the company will slash iPhone 13 production by 10 million units due to the ongoing global chips shortage.
Bloomberg reported that Apple had expected to make 90 million iPhone 13 models over the last three months of 2021.
However, the company has now told its manufacturing partners that it won’t hit that target because major suppliers like Texas Instruments (NASDAQ: TXN) and Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) are struggling to deliver enough components.
At the time of this writing, Apple stock was down less than a percent to $140.80 per share.