Stocks futures were bouncing Wednesday as Wall Street tried look past the highest inflation in decades and focus on the start of start of first quarter earnings reporting season.-
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials surged 91 points, or 0.1%, to 34,230.
Futures for the S&P 500 grew 14.5 points, or 0.3%, to 4,407.50.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite Index hiked 66.25 points, or 0.5%, to 14,011.25.
First-quarter earnings reporting season kicks off Wednesday and analysts have tempered their expectations amid rising commodity costs, the war in Ukraine and the lingering pandemic. But earnings for S&P 500 companies are still expected to increase a healthy 4.5% in the period.
Delta, BlackRock, and Fastenal earnings results all topped estimates Wednesday morning and the shares were higher in premarket trading.
Delta was the biggest winner so far, gaining 6% as its quarterly loss was less than expected and it forecast a return to profitability for this quarter.
JPMorgan Chase shares were slightly lower in premarket trading after the bank reported mixed results. JPMorgan reported a $524-million hit in the quarter following market upheavals related to Russia sanctions that lowered earnings per share by 13 cents. But JPMorgan managed to report $31.59 billion in revenue for the period, slightly more than expected by analysts. It also reported a new $30-billion buyback program.
Traders were awaiting the March producer prices report on Wednesday following the hot CPI report that knocked markets on Tuesday. March PPI was expected to climb 1.1% last month, according to economists polled by Dow Jones. The report is due at 8:30 a.m.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 in Japan leaped 1.9% Wednesday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng moved forward 0.3%.
Oil prices spiked $1.17 to $101.77 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices grabbed $4.80 to $1,959.90 U.S.