Stock futures rose ahead of a fresh batch of economic data

US stock futures rose slightly on Thursday as investors looked ahead to several economic reports due out in the morning.

Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 68 points, or 0.2%. S&P 500 futures rose 0.2%, and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.1%.

Retail sales, import prices and unemployment claims, as well as the Philadelphia Federal Manufacturing Survey and the Empire State Manufacturing Survey are all scheduled for release at 8:30 AM ET. These reports will come after Wednesday Product Price Index Report It showed a decline in wholesale prices of 0.1% in August.

Wall Street is emerging from a volatile session in which the major averages posted modest gains. On Wednesday, the Dow closed slightly higher, by 30 points, after dropping more than 200 points at one point. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.7%.

Stocks sought stability after a higher-than-expected inflation report on Tuesday stumbled to their worst day since 2020. Consumer Price Index Report Headline inflation showed a rise of 0.1% m/m, despite lower gas prices.

“It’s hard to extrapolate to one-day events,” Jeff Degraaf, founder and chairman of Renaissance Macro Research, said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime.” “It’s one of those extreme events that has no follow-up and tends to be good news rather than bad.”

He added, “Inflation is really a dark cloud over stocks, but I think it’s really important for people to keep in mind that it’s not about the good and the bad in the markets, it’s about the best and the worst, and inflation seems to be getting better.”