Market analysis on behalf of Ali Jaffari, CFA, Chief Financial Officer at DHF Capital

Following a weaker-than-expected Consumer Price Index (CPI) reading, US stock futures were upbeat today. Inflation data showed a cooler trend and fueled market optimism about a potential rate cut in September with a probability of over 70%.

Megacaps showed positive performances. Oracle’s shares surged due to increased demand for cloud services. Traders focused on Oracle’s newly announced cloud agreements with Google and OpenAI, despite some misses in the company’s latest quarterly results.

However, attention remains on the Federal Reserve. While it is expected to leave interest rates unchanged after today’s meeting, investors are keenly awaiting the Fed’s economic projections as well as comments from Jerome Powell which may provide more insights into the future policy direction.

Hawkish comments could weigh on the stock market and could lead to some price corrections after today’s strong open. Volatility could increase toward the end of the trading session as traders react to the Fed.