Wall St eyes higher open as Tesla rallies; inflation data in focus

WALL Street’s main indexes were set to open higher on Monday following gains in megacaps led by Tesla, while investors awaited inflation data due later this week for clues on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path.

Tesla jumped 6% in premarket trading as Morgan Stanley upgraded the EV maker to “overweight” from “equal-weight” due to potential growth in its market value because of Dojo, the firm’s supercomputer.

Shares of other megacaps including Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon rose between 0.4% and 0.8%.

Apple climbed 1.4% after a near 6% decline last week on China’s restrictions of iPhone usage for government officials, and ahead of its fall event on Sept. 12.

U.S. stocks logged weekly declines on Friday as strength in oil prices and stronger-than-expected economic data fueled concerns of sticky inflation and interest rates staying higher for longer.

Investors now await the crucial consumer and producer prices data as well as retail sales numbers due later this week.

The consumer price data on Wednesday will indicate whether the U.S. economy is on track for a so-called soft landing that could allow the Fed to bring down inflation without sharply impacting growth.

“The inflation numbers should be expected to be at least flat if not higher and most likely slightly higher as compared to the continued decline we’ve seen since last year, said Hugh Anderson, managing director at HighTower Advisors.

“I expect at least one more increase, but this is at best. Certainly no cuts, and I don’t expect to see cuts for quite some time until we see a dramatic decline in employment.”

Traders see a 93% chance of the central bank holding its interest rates at current levels in the September meeting, while their odds for a pause in November stand at 55.4%, according to CME FedWatch Tool.

Treasury yields inched up on Monday, with yields on 2-year note hovering around 4.9906%.

Fed officials have entered a blackout period, during which they usually do not make public comments, until the policy decision outcome on Sept. 20.

At 8:30 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 71 points, or 0.21%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 22.25 points, or 0.5%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 118.25 points, or 0.77%.

Among other stocks, Hostess Brands jumped 18.4% premarket after J. M. Smucker said it would buy the Twinkies-maker in a $5.6 billion deal.

Data over the weekend showed China’s consumer prices returned to positive territory in August, while factory-gate price declines slowed, as deflation pressures ease amid signs of stabilization in the economy.

U.S.-listed shares of Chinese firms PDD Holdings, Xpeng, Baidu rose between 1.7% and 4.2%, while the iShares China Large-Cap ETF gained 1.5%.

Meta Platforms added 1.3% after a report on Sunday said the firm was working on a new, more powerful artificial-intelligence system. – Reuters