Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on August 12, 2025 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Stock futures were relatively unchanged on Wednesday after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rallied to new records and as investors gear up for more data to assess the state of the U.S. economy.
S&P 500 futures were hovering around the flatline, as were Nasdaq 100 futures. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 13 points, or 0.03%.
The moves come after a winning day on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq reaching new intraday and closing record highs on Wednesday for the second day in a row. Both indexes finished the session with a gain of 0.32% and 0.14%, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also rose 463.66 points, or 1.04%.
Tuesday’s session had returned the broad market S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq to record territory on the back of a cooler-than-expected inflation report for July. That report stoked hopes among investors for a rate cut from the Federal Reserve at the end of its September policy meeting.
More economic data releases are on the docket for Thursday. July’s producer price index reading – as well as jobless claims data for the week ended Aug. 9 – is slated for release at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists polled by Dow Jones are expecting the measure of wholesale prices to show a 0.2% rise on the month. The index had come in flat in June.
“After yesterday’s ‘not as bad as it could have been’ July Consumer Price Index report, the equity markets are now in full ‘easing expectation’ mode,” said CFRA Research’s chief investment strategist Sam Stovall. “Even though Thursday’s Producer Price Index (PPI) is projected to show increases on a month-over-month (M/M) and year-over-year (Y/Y) basis, we think investors will overlook them.”
Meanwhile, in extended trading Wednesday, shares of Cisco were marginally lower after dropping more than 2% on the heels of the major tech company’s fourth-quarter results narrowly beating expectations. Other names like agricultural equipment company Deere and Coach owner Tapestry are due to release their latest quarterly results before the bell Thursday.