US stock futures edge higher

BLOOMBERG

US equity futures ticked higher and European stocks rose as more investors said the Federal Reserve is likely to pause interest-rate hikes on the back of cooling inflation data.
Contracts on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 advanced by about 0.3%. In US premarket trading, Walt Disney Co dropped after predicting a wider loss for its streaming service this quarter. Robinhood Markets Inc rose following better-than-expected results from the trading platform. Travel and personal-care stocks led gains in European equities.
Investors have more market-moving events to contend, with the Bank of England (BOE) expected to tighten policy for a 12th consecutive meeting, hiking its key rate by a further 25 basis points to the highest since 2008. Attention will focus more on how hawkish the central bank sounds in its efforts to quell inflation.
Figures showed signs of moderating US inflation after a year’s worth of Fed rate hikes and recent credit stress. However, overall prices are still rising at a brisk pace and the job market remains robust.  “It’s definitely optimistic to think about a rate cut, but not so optimistic to think about a rate pause,” Sunaina Sinha Haldea, global head of private capital advisory at Raymond James, said on Bloomberg Television. “The print gives the Fed what it needs to contemplate a pause.”
Industrial metals prices fell as data out of China stirred concerns about demand from the world’s second-largest economy. Consumer inflation dropped close to zero in April, while producer prices fell further into deflation, according to the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing. Credit and new loans fell in April from the previous month, according to the People’s Bank of China, missing economist forecasts.
Iron ore retreated below $100 a ton and copper plumbed its lowest since January. Elsewhere in commodity markets, oil rose for a fourth session in five as traders assessed interruptions to supplies.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose, rebounding from earlier losses. Yields on 10-year Treasuries were little changed while those on policy-sensitive two-year debt edged higher. As investors awaited clues on the path of monetary policy in the UK, a senior European Central Bank (ECB) official refused to rule out ECB hikes continuing beyond the summer.
“Inflation is still very sticky,” ECB Governing Council member Joachim Nagel said in Niigata, Japan, where he’s attending the meeting of Group of Seven finance chiefs. He described price gains as “a very stubborn phenomenon.”
Meanwhile, an ECB survey showed that consumer expectations for euro-zone inflation rose “significantly” in March, with projections for the next 12 months rising to 5% from 4.6% in February.
The potential for a first-ever US debt default remained a live issue for investors. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with Group of Seven finance ministers at the gathering in Japan, where she said such an event would undermine the nation’s global leadership. There was little progress in talks between President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans. The president and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy plan to hold another meeting on May 12.
An illiquid corner of swaps insuring Credit Suisse Group AG debt has surged back to life. They’ve had their biggest jump this week since UBS Group AG agreed to buy Credit Suisse in March, as funds including FourSixThree Capital and Diameter Capital Partners pile in, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.4% in London  and S&P 500 futures rose 0.3%. While Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.3%, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index plunges 0.4% and the MSCI Emerging Markets Index also drops 0.2%.
While the Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 134.80 per dollar, the offshore yuan declines 0.1% to 6.9473 per dollar and the British pound fell as much as 0.3% to $1.2583.