Futures are rising as US markets struggle to finish the week in positive territory ahead of the second day of new inflation data. Dow Jones Industrial futures rose 0.2% to 53,978.00, while S&P 500 futures gained 0.2% to 7,784.50 and Nasdaq futures rose 0.1% to 29,877.25. All three have fallen this week. The Labor Department will release its producer price index on Thursday, which captures inflation before it reaches consumers and can provide clues about where prices will go. It comes a day after the Labor Department reported that consumer prices rose 3.4% in July from a year earlier, down slightly from 3.5% in June. Inflation had fallen to 2.4% before the war with Iran. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.1% from June to July. Technology stocks are rising early Thursday despite a 6% drop for Cisco Systems after it released fourth-quarter financial results. The company has been successful in all aspects and its sales have increased thanks to the demand for artificial intelligence, but investors may be taking profits, as the company’s shares are already up 61% this year. AI stocks have been volatile lately. Investors want to see evidence that big spending by tech companies will pay off. Netflix shares rose nearly 2% before the bell after Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square revealed a sizable stake in the streaming company. The investment firm backed out of a billion-dollar stake several years ago after losing hundreds of millions of dollars, but said in a new disclosure that it believes Netflix has now “effectively won the streaming war.” In global markets, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.2% to 8,694.25, while Germany’s DAX added 0.5% to 26,465.94. Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 0.3% to 10,800.26. In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index advanced 1.2% to finish at 68,308.59. In South Korea, the Kospi rose 3.6% to 6,813.34, while Samsung Electronics shares rose 4.9%. Computer chip maker SK Hynix rose 9%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.2% to 25,396.51. Benchmark U.S. crude fell $2.13 to $81.50 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell $2.02 to $87.18 a barrel. In currency trading, the US dollar fell to 159.34 Japanese yen from 159.37 yen. The euro was worth $1.1536, down from $1.1526. Currency fluctuations have been in the spotlight after the United States and Japan recently jointly intervened to shore up the yen. Although the dollar has fallen slightly against the yen, it still remains above 150 yen. Subscribe to Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the day’s biggest headlines. ___Yuri Kageyama is in the threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama
