*
March CPI data awaited on Wednesday
*
CarMax jumps on quarterly profit beat
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Crypto stocks climb as bitcoin hits 10-month high
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Futures mixed: Dow up 0.13%, S&P up 0.10%, Nasdaq down
0.09%
(Updates prices throughout)
By Sruthi Shankar and Ankika Biswas
April 11 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were mixed
on Tuesday as investors refrained from making aggressive bets
ahead of inflation data that could determine the Federal
Reserve's next policy moves, while caution also prevailed ahead
of the earnings season.
Hopes that the Fed will soon end its aggressive monetary
policy tightening have helped the benchmark S&P 500 stabilize in April after the collapse of two U.S. mid-sized
lenders sparked a selloff last month.
A strong labor market report on Friday, however, lifted bets
that the U.S. central bank will increase rates by 25 basis
points in May, with money market traders pricing in a 68% chance
of such a move, according to CME Group's Fedwatch tool.
This marks a shift from traders' bets of a pause in the U.S.
central bank's policy tightening with recession concerns taking
center stage following a slew of recent weak economic data.
All eyes will be on the inflation data on Wednesday, with
economists forecasting consumer prices to grow 5.2% in March
after a 6.0% rise in February. However, core prices are seen
rising 5.6%, a slightly faster pace compared with the 5.5%
growth in February.
Investors will also be scrutinizing earnings reports from
the big U.S. banks such as Citigroup Inc , JPMorgan Chase &
Co and Wells Fargo & Co on Friday for clues on
the overall health of the banking sector.
Following the recent banking turmoil, both the KBW Regional
Banking index and the S&P 500 Banks index ,
notched their steepest monthly drop in more than three years in
March.
Analysts expect first-quarter profits at S&P 500 companies
to fall 5.2% year-on-year, a stark reversal from the 1.4% annual
growth expected at the beginning of the year, according to
Refinitiv data.
Remarks later on Tuesday from voting members of the Fed's
rate-setting committee will be parsed for more clues on the
central bank's policy moves.
At 7:12 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 43 points, or
0.13%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 4 points, or 0.10%, and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 11.75 points, or 0.09%.
Shares of crypto-related companies such as Coinbase Global
Inc , Riot Platforms Inc and Marathon Digital
Holdings Inc climbed between 2.8% and 4.3% in premarket
trade as bitcoin breached the key $30,000 level for
the first time in 10 months.
U.S.-listed shares of Hexo Corp plunged 22% after
Tilray Brands Inc said it would buy the Canadian
cannabis company for $56 million. Tilray's shares also fell
5.8%.
CarMax Inc rose 8% as the used-car retailer reported
a quarterly profit that beat estimates.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru;
Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
