(Reuters) – Futures tracking Wall Street’s main indexes turned negative on Thursday as hotter-than-expected consumer inflation dampened expectations of an early start to interest-rate cuts.
Data showed the headline CPI rose 3.4% in December on a yearly basis versus a 3.2% increase expected by economists polled by Reuters. On a monthly basis, it rose 0.3% versus the anticipated 0.2% increase.
Core CPI, excluding volatile items like food and energy, rose 3.9% year-on-year versus expectations of a 3.8% increase.
A separate report showed jobless claims rose to 202,000 in the week ended Jan. 6 compared with an expected 210,000 increase.
At 8:31 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 76 points, or 0.2%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 10 points, or 0.21%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 19.5 points, or 0.12%.
(Reporting by Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
