US stock futures traded flat in premarket trading on Wednesday ahead of the release of a key inflation reading and Nvidia's (NVDA) earnings report.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) and the S&P 500 (ES=F) hovered near the flat line, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 (NQ=F) fell 0.2% after posting broad gains on Tuesday.
At 8:30 a.m. ET, investors will find out if the Fed's preferred inflation gauge continued its downward trajectory, stalled, or reaccelerated, which would put more pressure on the central bank to raise rates. Economists expect a core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) of 3.3%, unchanged from the month before.
The report comes amid angst in the bond market and ahead of the Jackson Hole annual gathering of Fed policymakers this week, where Chairman Kevin Warsh will deliver a speech on the central bank's future plans.
Tech and chip stocks, meanwhile, face their next test after the closing bell, when Nvidia opens its books in what has become a quarterly yardstick for the health of the artificial intelligence trade. Expectations are high heading into the earnings report, as investors increasingly focus on companies' ability to generate returns on their massive AI investments.
CrowdStrike (CRWD), Williams-Sonoma (WSM), Okta (OKTA), and Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) are among the other companies reporting results on Wednesday.