Global markets were mostly higher as investors wagered U.S. inflation data would be benign enough to ensure a Federal Reserve rate cut next week and perhaps two more by year-end.

Wall Street futures were in positive territory after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched record-high closes yesterday.

TSX futures edged up after Canada’s main stock index closed at a fresh high yesterday.

In Canada, investors are getting results from Empire Co. Ltd.

On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Adobe Inc. and Kroger Co.

“Headline inflation is expected to tick up to 2.9 per cent from 2.7 per cent a month earlier, while core inflation is seen holding sticky at 3.1 per cent year-on-year,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, wrote in a note.

“A softer-than-expected set of numbers could fuel bets of a jumbo Fed cut next week to support a weakening jobs market, while stronger-than-expected figures would strengthen the case for the Fed to start with a 25 [basis-point] cut and follow with two more. In that case, we could see ... only limited incremental appetite for equities.”

Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.19 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.46 per cent, Germany’s DAX was little changed and France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.69 per cent.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.22 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.43 per cent.

Oil prices held steady as worries over softening U.S. demand and broad oversupply risks were offset by concerns over attacks in the Middle East and the Russian war in Ukraine.

Brent crude futures were down 0.3 per cent to US$67.28 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures lost 0.4 per cent to trade at US$63.41.

While geopolitical conflicts provide some support to oil prices, the market was more concerned with oversupply, PVM Oil Associates analyst Tamas Varga said in a note.

“Tighter sanctions on Russian crude buyers, notably China and India, could provide further ammunition for oil bulls, but such measures remain at the level of rhetoric for now,” he added.

In other commodities, spot gold was down 0.2 per cent at US$3,632.48 an ounce. U.S. gold futures for December delivery fell 0.3 per cent to US$3,669.80.

The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart.

The day range on the loonie was 71.99 US cents to 72.17 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 0.47 per cent against the greenback over the past month.

The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, rose 0.2 per cent to 97.98.

The euro declined 0.05 per cent to US$1.1688. The British pound dropped 0.16 per cent to US$1.3508.

In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last down at 4.048 per cent.

ECB monetary policy meeting

(8:30 a.m. ET) Canada’s National Balance Sheet and Financial Flow Accounts for Q2

(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. initial jobless claims for week of Sept. 6. Estimate is 235,000, down 2,000 from the previous week.

(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. CPI for August. The Street is projecting a rise of 0.3 per cent from July and up 2.9 per cent year-over-year.

(2 p.m. ET) U.S. federal budget balance for August.

With Reuters and The Canadian Press