Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on July 23, 2025.
NYSE
U.S. stock futures inched higher Sunday night, with the market once again on the cusp of all-time highs ahead of a week of key inflation reports.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose by 56 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.1% and 0.1%, respectively.
Those moves come after the Nasdaq Composite ended last week at fresh closing highs, and the S&P 500 closed on the threshold of another milestone. The Dow also finished the week on a high note. A rally in Apple — which has been a significant laggard this year — helped bolster the market.
The latest advance has some investors wondering how much longer the stock market can skirt pitfalls, given sky-high valuations, a dimming macroeconomic outlook, and tariff fallout all during a period of seasonal weakness.
“We are probably going to be more in a digestion phase than anything else,” said Jay Woods, chief global strategist at Freedom Capital Markets. He added, “We may get a little bit of sideways action in this market, which is not a bad thing.”
Inflation readings this week will prove a key hurdle for a broad market index near record highs. The consumer price index, which is set to be released Tuesday, and the producer price index, due out Thursday, will be critical in shaping the outlook for the direction of interest rates, especially for the Federal Reserve’s September meeting. Hotter inflation prints could hinder the market’s advance.
“The most important thing is the CPI data,” Woods said. “That will definitely dictate monetary policy.”
The inflation data comes ahead of the Fed’s Jackson Hole meeting in Wyoming on Aug. 21-23, which will likely set the tone for the September meeting.