All eyes on June CPI report
Wall Street looks set for a positive open on Wednesday ahead of the release of U.S. consumer price index (CPI) report for June.
Economists expect headline CPI to have increased 8.8% on a year-over-year basis and 1.1% on a month-over-month basis. Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and gas prices, is forecast to have dropped to 5.7% from 6% in May.
High inflation readings could force the Federal Reserve to accelerate the pace of interest-rate hike at its policy meeting later this month.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will publish the inflation figures at 8:30 a.m. ET today.
As of 5:20 a.m. ET, Dow futures edged up 72 points, or 0.23% to 31,038 . S&P 500 futures climbed 10.25 points, or 0.27% to 3,834 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures rose 40 points, or 0.34% to 11,819.
Twitter sues Elon Musk for terminating takeover deal
Twitter has filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk, demanding that he complete the $44 billion deal to take the company private.
The lawsuit was filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery on Tuesday and follows Musk’s decision to back out of the agreement.
Twitter said in the suit that it has cooperated fully with Musk’s requests for details about bot accounts, and accused him of engaging in “bad faith” efforts.
The company said the agreement is still effect and asked the court to order Musk to “specifically perform their obligations under the merger agreements and consummate the closing in accordance with the terms of the agreement.”
The terms of the agreement include a $1 billion break-up fee if Musk fails to complete the deal as agreed.
Twitter stock was up 59 cents, or 1.73% to $34.65 apiece in the premarket trading session.
Crude futures soar as Biden heads to Saudi Arabia
Meanwhile, crude futures were trading in the green early Wednesday as President Joe Biden begins his four-day trip to Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia.
Bide will attend a regional Arab summit in Saudi Arabia, where he will meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, along with leaders from the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Egypt, Bahrain, Iraq, and Jordan.
With gas prices surging in the U.S. and the midterm elections on the horizon, the president will reportedly use the trip to push for greater oil output from Saudi Arabia and OPEC members.
As of writing, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were marked $1.11, or 1.16% to $96.95 a barrel. Global Brent crude futures added $1.18, or 1.19% to $100.67 a barrel.
