Futures slightly higher ahead of inflation data

[March 12, 2019]   By Amy Caren Daniel

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures inched higher on Tuesday, taking cues from global stocks which rose after last-minute tweaks to Britain's deal to leave the European Union that eased some fears of a no-deal Brexit, and as investors waited for inflation data.

European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker said he agreed to an updated Brexit deal with British Prime Minister Theresa May to make the agreement more palatable to UK lawmakers but warned they would not get a third chance to endorse it.

The S&P 500 index has risen nearly 19 percent off its December lows, when markets were roiled by concerns of Sino-U.S. trade frictions, slowing economic growth and uncertainty about Brexit.

A reduced likelihood of crashing out of the EU with no Brexit deal helped inject some appetite for riskier assets, potentially eliminating one of the three major concerns of global investors.

British lawmakers who rejected May's withdrawal agreement in January are due to vote on the Brexit deal again at around 3:00 p.m. ET (1900 GMT).

Boeing Co fell 2.1 percent, extending a fall from the previous session after many airlines grounded the company's best-selling line of jets after a second fatal crash in just five months.

Boeing as well as Coca-Cola Co's fall in pre-market trading pressured the Dow futures.

The world's largest planemaker, which is the best performing Dow component this year by a wide margin, fell as much as 13.4 percent on Monday and weighed on the Dow Jones Industrial average.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

However the blue-chip Dow pared losses, and all three indexes ended Monday higher boosted by a tech-led rally. Wall Street had posted five straight sessions of declines in the previous week, their biggest fall since 2018-end.

At 6:38 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 29 points, or 0.11 percent. S&P 500 e-minis were up 1.75 points, or 0.06 percent and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 12 points, or 0.17 percent.

Coca-Cola dipped 0.3 percent after HSBC downgraded the soda maker's stock.

On the economic front, the Labor Department is expected to show that the seasonally adjusted consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.2 percent in February, after remaining unchanged for a third straight month in January.

Core CPI is seen increasing 2.2 percent year-on-year, unchanged from January. The report is due at 8:30 a.m. ET.

(Reporting by Amy Caren Daniel and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.