Futures dip after Harris-Trump debate; eyes on inflation data
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Futures down: Dow 0.46%, S&P 500 0.38%, Nasdaq 0.42%
Sept 11 (Reuters) -U.S. stock index futures dipped on Wednesday, with investors pricing in greater odds of Democrat Kamala Harris prevailing in the upcoming presidential elections, while focus moved to a key inflation reading later in the day.
Investors have for weeks been adjusting their expectations around the Federal Reserve's policy meeting next week and the inflation data could feed into those. But the U.S. presidential debate, in which Harris put her Republican rival Donald Trump on the defensive late on Tuesday, was driving sentiment, analysts said.
Wall Street remained on edge as the debate offered investors little clarity on key policy issues, even as betting markets swung in Harris' favor after the event.
"Relative to Trump, we see Harris' policies as less fiscally expansionary, less focus on tax cuts," noted Jefferies' chief Europe economist Mohit Kumar.
After the debate, pricing for a Trump victory slipped by 6 cents to 47 cents on online betting site PredictIt, while climbing to 57 cents from 53 cents for a Harris win.
Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group DJT.O, Trump's media firm, slid 15.2% in premarket trading.
Yields on U.S. government bonds fell across the curve, with the yield on the 10-year note US10YT=RR last at 3.6068%, its lowest level in more than a year.
Other traditional safe-haven assets such as the Japanese yen JPY=EBS and Swiss franc CHF=D3 also rose, while the dollar index =USD came under pressure.
Later in the day, focus will be on a reading of August consumer price inflation (CPI), with headline inflation expected to ease to 2.6% year-on-year, while the "core" figure, which excludes volatile components like food and energy, is expected to remain unchanged at 3.2% annually.
This will be followed by the producer prices report on Thursday.
Traders are all but convinced that the Fed will cut interest rates when it meets on Sept. 17-18, with 67% tilted toward a 25-basis point cut, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.
The S&P 500 .SPX and the Nasdaq .IXIC closed higher in choppy trading on Tuesday, while the Dow .DJI ended lower as losses in big banks such as Goldman Sachs GS.N weighed.
At 05:22 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis 1YMcv1 were down 186 points, or 0.46%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were down 20.75 points, or 0.38%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were down 80.75 points, or 0.42%.
Among other stocks, GameStop GME.N dropped 10.8% after the videogame retailer, which has been at the center of a "meme stock" frenzy, said it had filed for an offering of up to 20 million shares and reported lower second-quarter revenue.
Cryptocurrency and blockchain-related stocks slipped as bitcoin BTC=, the world's largest cryptocurrency, fell more than 1%.
Exchange operator Coinbase Global COIN.O lost 2.7%, software firm MicroStrategy MSTR.O eased 3.9% and crypto miner Riot Platforms RIOT.O fell 2.1%.
Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta
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