Today’s stock: Stocks higher with Walmart, retail sales on deck

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U.S. stock futures rose in early trading Thursday as Wall Street sought to extend its five-day winning streak amid optimism that Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and a resilient domestic economy will continue to support corporate profit growth. .

Stocks finished flat on Wednesday, supported in part by a muted July inflation report that showed headline price pressures falling below the 3% mark for the first time since spring 2021, a move that cemented likely bets on a Fed rate cut in September.

Related: CPI inflation report upsets bet on big Federal Reserve rate cut

However, pressures on core prices, which strip out volatile components such as food and energy, came largely in line with Street forecasts, reducing bets on an excessive rate cut when the Fed meet next month in Washington.

Stocks were also buoyed by one of the biggest drops in market volatility on record, with the CBOE Group’s VIX index down more than 58% over the past seven trading days.

Walmart’s earnings and retail sales data will provide key insights into the health of the US consumer heading into the fall months.

SAMUEL CORUM/Getty Images

The VIX was last marked 9.6% lower in the overnight session at $16.39, a level that suggests traders expect daily swings of 1.02%, or 56 points, for the S&P 500 in the next thirty days.

Today’s session will focus on the health of the American consumer, with the Commerce Department reporting July retail sales figures and Walmart. (WMT) posting its second quarter earnings update before the opening bell.

The Atlanta Fed will also update its GDPNow forecast later in the session, with investors looking for updates from the current quarter’s growth estimate of 2.9%.

Related: Main Street business pushes back recession gloom on Wall Street

Heading into early Wall Street trading, S&P 500 futures, which are now nearly flat for the quarter, are pricing in a modest opening gain of about 9 points.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, is named 100 points higher, while the technology-focused Nasdaq is set for a 60-point advance to start the session.

Yields on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note were last seen at 3.847 percent by early trading in New York, with the 2-year note trading at 3.964 percent.

In Europe, trading volumes held the Dormition Day celebrations across the region, although the Stoxx 600 opened for trading last up 0.19% in the mid-day session.

Meanwhile, Britain’s FTSE 100 was essentially unchanged from last night’s close after GDP data showed a modest 0.6% expansion in the three months to June.

More Wall Street analysts:

• Analysts reset Amazon stock price targets after earnings
• The analyst resets the price target on Rivian shares on updated plans
• Analysts reset price target on Arm Holdings shares after earnings

Overnight in Asia, shares in China ended higher following a mixed set of economic data in July, which included a disappointing reading for industrial production that boosted bets for fresh stimulus from the central government.

In Japan, stronger-than-expected second-quarter GDP of 3.1 percent, well above forecasts for 2.1 percent, lifted the Nikkei 225 by 0.78 percent at the close and fixed the index benchmark at the highest levels since August 1.

Related: Veteran fund manager sees world of pain coming for stocks