Stock index futures muted ahead of wholesale inflation data

[Wall Street sign, New York City, USA]
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Stock index futures were muted on Thursday, as investors turned their attention to more inflation data.

S&P 500 futures (SPX [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SPX]), Nasdaq 100 futures (US100:IND [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/US100:IND]) unchanged, and Dow futures (INDU [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/INDU]) +0.1%.

The 10-year Treasury yield (US10Y [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/US10Y]) fell 2 basis points to 4.22%. The 2-year yield (US2Y [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/US2Y]) were flat at 3.68%

U.S. stocks advanced to mark new record closes on Wednesday, while the Dow Jones ended just 91.77 points away from its record close, as a rally sparked by heightened expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts continued.

"The market rally continued to power forward over the last 24 hours, with the S&P 500 reaching another record as investors grew more confident about the near-term outlook. The main catalyst was mounting speculation about a Fed rate cut as soon as the next meeting in September, with the hope being that a series of cuts would help to maintain the economic expansion and support risk assets," Deutsche Bank's Henry Allen said.

As markets were pricing in more rate cuts, that proved to be a great backdrop for equities, and the S&P 500 (+0.32%) advanced to a fresh all-time high. That was despite a decline for the Magnificent 7 (-0.31%), which slipped back from its own record on Tuesday.

Traders will keep their eye on the July wholesale inflation report slated to come before the market opens.

Core PPI is expected to come in at 0.2% M/M and 2.9% Y/Y, while the PPI is forecasted to come in at 0.2% M/M and 2.5% on an annual basis.

"The producer price inflation for July is about domestic production and so does not show the direct consequences of trade taxes. The impact does emerge either with higher costs of imported components being passed down the supply chain or with U.S. companies taking advantage of foreign competitors being taxed to increase their own prices," UBS' Paul Donovan said.

The initial jobless claims numbers will also land before the bell. The consensus looks for claims to continue rising to 230K after an already worrisome 7K increase to 226K last week.

The Fed balance sheet will come in later in the day.

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