Wall Street ticks higher early ahead of new US inflation and jobs data

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Wall Street pointed toward a third consecutive day of records before the opening bell Thursday ahead of new U.S. data releases on the labor market and inflation.

Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.3% while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq each ticked 0.2% higher.

Market movement will hinge on government reports about inflation and unemployment benefits, two areas that the Federal Reserve attempts to manage as part of its dual mandate to control inflation and maintain a healthy labor market.

Most economists believe the Fed will cut rates at its meeting next week after recent data revealed a labor market that's been softening for longer than previously thought. While inflation also remains stubbornly above the U.S. central banks 2% target and is forecast to have risen again in August, Fed officials have increasingly expressed concern about a slowing U.S. job market.

Recent government reports have also shown that hiring has slowed sharply in recent months and was lower than previously estimated last year, a sign that companies may be worried about future sales and are less interested in adding staff.

Stocks have reached records in large part because Wall Street is expecting the economy to pull off a delicate balancing act: slowing enough to convince the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, but not so much that it causes a recession, all while inflation remains under control.

Many things must go right for that to happen, and an encouraging signal came from a report Wednesday saying inflation at the U.S. wholesale level unexpectedly slowed in August.

Traders were already convinced the Fed will deliver its first cut to interest rates of the year at its next meeting, but they need inflation data until then to be mild enough not to derail those expectations.

In premarket trading Thursday, shares of residential home flipper Opendoor climbed 36% after the company named Kaz Nejatian, the COO of Shopify, as its CEO. Opendoor also announced that co-founders Keith Rabois and Eric Wu are returning to serve on the board of directors, with Rabois stepping into the chairman's role.

Shares of FedEx fell 1.3% while UPS slipped 2.1% after Bank of America downgraded both package delivery companies' stock.

In Europe at midday, Germany's DAX rose 0.3%, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.5% and France's CAC 40 climbed 0.9%.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 1.2% to 44,372.50, with tech investment company SoftBank Group’s shares jumping 8.3% in a second straight day of gains.

Data released Thursday showed Japan’s producer prices rose 2.7% year-on-year in August from a 2.5% rise the previous month, in line with market expectations. The higher cost of food, transport equipment and machinery contributed to the rise in prices.

In Chinese markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slid 0.4% to 26,086.32 while the Shanghai Composite index rose 1.7% to 3,875.31.

Shares of chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp added more than 6%, while Hua Hong Semiconductor rose 3.8%. Cambricon Technologies, often called China’s Nvidia, climbed 9%.

South Korea's Kospi climbed 0.9% to 3,344.20 while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.3% to 8,805.00. India's BSE Sensex added nearly 0.2% while Taiwan's Taiex rose 0.1%, trimming earlier gains.