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Tesla up on price hike, Musk finding new Twitter CEO
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Fox Corp falls on Wells Fargo downgrade
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Futures up: Dow 0.43%, S&P 0.41%, Nasdaq 0.23%
May 12 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Friday in a week that bolstered investor hopes of a pause in interest rate hikes after data showed a moderation in economic growth and on gains in Tesla shares.
Both consumer and producer prices cooled a bit, while weekly jobless claims posted their sharpest rise in 1-1/2-years. Data on consumer sentiment and import prices are due later in the day. The University of Michigan's preliminary reading on the overall index of consumer sentiment is expected to come in at 63.0 this month, down from 63.5 in April. "While the results of the latest inflation gauges are open to interpretation, the move south rather than north in the inflation rate supports the case for a June pause by the FOMC at the very least," said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade. Tesla Inc rose 1.5% in premarket trading and was the top gainer among its growth peers as the EV maker raised the U.S. prices of its Model S, X, and Y vehicles and boss Elon Musk said he has found a new chief executive for Twitter. Regional bank stocks steadied after the KBW Regional Banking index ended its fourth straight session lower on Thursday on concerns over the sector's health following the collapse of three regional lenders.
PacWest Bancorp , Zions Bancorp , KeyCorp and Western Alliance Bancorp all rose between 1%
and 4.4%.
Shares of Fox Corp fell 2.2% after Wells Fargo
downgraded the media company to "equal-weight" from
"overweight".
At 6:52 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 144 points, or
0.43%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 17 points, or 0.41%, and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 31 points, or 0.23%.
Markets will also be watching for signs of a breakthrough in
raising the U.S. government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling to
avoid a catastrophic default.
A meeting between President Joe Biden and top lawmakers that
was scheduled for Friday has been postponed, and the leaders
agreed to meet early next week.
Meanwhile, Fedwatchers will keep a close eye on comments from
St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard and Fed Board
Governor Philip Jefferson later in the day.
(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Shristi Achar A in
Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Arun Koyyur)
