Futures climb ahead of fresh inflation data

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures rose on Thursday ahead of fresh economic data that could offer clues on the Federal Reserves monetary tightening plans, while investors also awaited bank earnings after turmoil in the sector last month.

Following the selloff in March due to the banking crisis, the benchmark S&P 500 has traded in tight ranges this month as investors assessed the path for U.S. interest rates after strong jobs data and signs of cooling inflation in March.

Wall Street closed lower on Wednesday after data showed consumer prices rose at a slower-than-expected pace in March, although core prices remained sticky, supporting the case for another 25-basis point rate hike by the Fed in May.

Data at 8:30 a.m. ET (1230 GMT) is expected to show producer prices barely rose in March on a month-on-month basis, following a 0.1% contraction in February. On a year-over-year basis, the producer price index is seen climbing 3.0% last month after a 4.6% growth in February.

Later in the day, data is also expected to show weekly jobless claims rose to 232,000 in the week ended April 8, from 228,000 claims filed a week earlier.

Several Fed policymakers last month considered pausing interest rate increases, minutes of the U.S. central banks March 21-22 meeting showed on Wednesday, after the failure of two regional banks and a forecast from Fed staff that banking sector stress could tip the economy into a recession.

Big U.S. banks Citigroup Inc, Wells Fargo & Co and JPMorgan Chase & Co are scheduled to report quarterly results on Friday, and investors will watch them closely for details about the sectors overall health.

Analysts expect S&P 500 companies to record a profit decline of 5.2% in the first quarter, according to Refinitiv IBES data, in what could be their worst showing since the third quarter of 2020.

Financial companies that are part of the S&P 500 are expected to report a profit growth of 4.3% in the first quarter.

At 05:37 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 44 points, or 0.13%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 9.75 points, or 0.24%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 48.25 points, or 0.37%.

Harley-Davidson Incs shares fell 4% in premarket trading after the motorcycle maker said Chief Financial Officer Gina Goetter was leaving the company at the end of April.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)