Sept 11 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set for a subdued open on Thursday after the latest inflation reading kept the U.S. central bank on track to deliver an interest rate cut later this month.
U.S. consumer prices rose more than expected in August and the annual increase in inflation was the largest in seven months.
Still, traders firmed interest rate cut bets following the data, with rates futures pointing to four straight quarter-point cuts through January.
The data follows last month's producer inflation numbers, which fell unexpectedly, and a series of economic indicators have pointed to continued labor market weakness that had investors already pricing in at least 25 basis points in cuts next week.
"Inflation is firming, not as much as we expected, but firming nonetheless ... in a way, that the market can digest it," said Gary Schlossberg, global strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
"We're not looking for a jumbo cut as some had expected ...(the data) may temper the market's enthusiasm for big cuts, but it (does not) really change the trajectory at the margin."
Separately, weekly jobless claims came in higher than expectations.
At 08:47 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 72 points, or 0.16%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 11.5 points, or 0.18% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 58 points, or 0.24%.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq notched record high closes on Wednesday, partly helped by a nearly 36% surge in Oracle (ORCL.N), after an upbeat forecast that brought the cloud computing company closer to joining the trillion-dollar club.
It revived the AI trade on Wednesday, sparking a rally in artificial-intelligence-linked chip and utility companies supplying power to data centers.
Oracle rose 1.5% in premarket trading on Thursday.
Wall Street's three main indexes have had a broadly positive start to September - a month that is deemed bad historically for U.S. equities. In the month, the benchmark S&P 500 has shed 1.5% on average since 2000, data compiled by LSEG showed.
Gun stocks climbed before the bell, extending their rally from the previous session after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot dead at a university in Utah on Wednesday.
Sturm Ruger & Co (RGR.N), gained 3.1% and Smith & Wesson Brands (SWBI.O), was up 2.8%.
Stocks linked to ether rose, tracking gains in the cryptocurrency. Sharplink Gaming (SBET.O), advanced 1.1% and Bitmine Immersion Technologies was 3.4% higher.
Centene (CNC.N), jumped 12.4% as the health insurer said its results through August are consistent with its previous guidance for a full-year profit.
Micron Technology (MU.O), gained 5% after Citigroup raised its price target on the stock to $175 from $150.
Reporting by Purvi Agarwal and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Maju Samuel
