Stock futures little changed
U.S. stock futures were pointing to a mildly higher open on Friday, ahead of the release of a key inflation report at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Economists polled by Reuters expect the Bureau of Labor Statistics report to show that U.S. consumer price index (CPI) accelerated 6.8% in November, compared to the same month last year.
That would be higher than 6.2% increase recorded in October, and which was the fastest jump in 31 years.
Economists also expect the November core CPI, which does not include volatile food and energy prices, to have risen 4.9% on a year-over-year basis compared with October’s gain of 4.6%.
Last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told lawmakers on Capitol Hill that central bank policymakers needed to be prepared to respond to the possibility that consumer prices might not cool in the second half of 2022 as estimates currently show.
As of 5:20 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow were indicated 43 points, or 0.12% higher to 35,796.
S&P 500 futures added 11.25 points, or 0.24% to 4,678.25 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 36.25 points, or 0.22% to 16,185.
Cvent goes public again via a SPAC deal
Cvent (NASDAQ: CVT) returned to public markets on Thursday through a U.S. initial public offering backed by blank-check company Dragoneer Growth Opportunities Corp. II.
The stock closed its first trading day up 24 cents, or 2.46% to $9.99 a share.
Typically, special purpose acquisition companies (SPAC) are shell companies formed with the intent of later merging with a privately-held business to take it public.
The listing comes five years after Cvent was taken private by Vista Equity Partners in deal valued $1.65 billion. The event-management software company announced its merger with Dragoneer in July this year.
Costco shares rise in upbeat earnings and revenue
Meanwhile, shares of Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) were popping in the pre-market trading session Friday after the company posted better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal first quarter on Thursday evening.
The membership warehouse retailer reported earnings of $2.98 a share, surpassing expectations of $2.67 a share.
Revenue came in at $50.4 billion, beating expectations of $50.2 billion. Same-store sales grew 15%, while analysts had called for a gain of 13%.
As of writing, Costco stock was up $6.04, or 1.15% to $530.37 per share.
