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 (.SPX) 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 (C.N), JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) on Friday for clues on the overall health of the banking sector.
Following the recent banking turmoil, both the KBW Regional Banking index (.KRX) and the S&P 500 Banks index (.SPXBK), 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 (COIN.O), Riot Platforms Inc (RIOT.O) and Marathon Digital Holdings Inc (MARA.O) 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 (TLRY.O) said it would buy the Canadian cannabis company for $56 million. Tilray's shares also fell 5.8%.
CarMax Inc (KMX.N) rose 8% as the used-car retailer reported a quarterly profit that beat estimates.
