Market Snapshot: Wall Street heads for more gains as bond selloff takes a breather, with more earnings on the way

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U.S. stock index futures climbed on Wednesday as a bond selloff eased up ahead of the latest inflation report due Thursday, and investors waited for another big batch of earnings reports.

How are stock-index futures trading?
  • S&P 500 futures
    ES00,
    +0.73%

    rose 0.7% to 4,543

  • Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
    YM00,
    +0.53%

    rose 0.6%, or 200 points, to 35,544

  • Nasdaq-100 futures
    NQ00,
    +1.00%

    gained 0.8% to 14,855

Tuesday’s action saw the Dow industrials
DJIA,
+1.06%

climb 371.65 points, or 1.1%, to close at 35,462.78, its best daily gain since Jan. 31. The S&P 500
SPX,
+0.84%

rose or 0.8% to end at 4,521.54 for its best day since Feb. 2. The Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
+1.28%

climbed 1.3% to finish at 14,194.45.

What’s driving the markets?

Investors on Wednesday were getting a breather from a recent bond selloff. The yield on the Treasury note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
1.925%

was last down 4 basis points to 1.919% after reaching 1.954% on Tuesday, its highest since 2019.

But investors are still keeping an eye on the key 2% level, especially as important inflation data looms for Thursday. Annual consumer price inflation is expected to rise to 7.2% for January, after reaching a 40-year high of 7% in December.

Read: ‘This is not 1980’: What investors are watching as next U.S. inflation reading looms

“Improved sentiment is on the back of more optimism about reopening, meanwhile the hawkish Fed expectations and the rising yields continue being a serious threat to the actual gains, as the major triggers behind the latest bond selloff are still in play,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, in a note to clients.

“This means that there is a high risk of a sudden mood swing before Thursday’s U.S. inflation data,” she said.

Investors are also looking out for more earnings on Wednesday, from CVS Health Corp.
CVS,
+1.30%
,
Yum Brands Inc.
YUM,
-0.09%

ahead of the open, followed by The Walt Disney Co.
DIS,
-0.02%

and MGM Resorts International
MGM,
+3.49%

after the close of the market.

Read: After ‘baptism by fire,’ Disney CEO looks for a rebound

Which stocks are in focus?
How are other assets trading?
  • The ICE U.S. Dollar Index 
    DXY,
    -0.16%
    ,
     a measure of the currency against a basket of six major rivals, fell 0.2%.

  • West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery 
    CL.1,
    -0.46%

    CLH22,
    -0.46%

    slipped 0.5% to $88.90 a barrel. Gold futures for April delivery 
    GC00,
    -0.03%

    GCJ22,
    -0.03%

    were flat at $1.827.60, near its Tuesday close, which was the highest most-active contract settlement since Jan. 26, FactSet data showed.

  • Bitcoin 
    BTCUSD,
    -1.06%

    was down 0.3%

  • The Stoxx 600 Europe 
    SXXP,
    +1.46%

    rose 1.5%, while the FTSE 100 
    UKX,
    +0.66%

    gained 0.5%.

  • The Shanghai Composite 
    SHCOMP,
    +0.79%

     rose 0.7%, while the Hang Seng Index 
    HSI00,
    -0.54%

     jumped 2% and Japan’s Nikkei 225
    NIK,
    +1.08%

    rose 1%.

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