Stocks Climb Before the Open as Bond Yields Fall, U.S. Inflation Data Looms

December S&P 500 futures (ESZ23) are up +0.43%, and December Nasdaq 100 E-Mini futures (NQZ23) are up +0.46% this morning as U.S. Treasury yields continued to fall, while market participants braced for a key U.S. consumer inflation report.

The minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s September 19-20 meeting revealed that most Federal Reserve policymakers found it “appropriate” to implement one more rate hike and stressed the importance of maintaining higher interest rates for an extended period as inflation continues to trend well above the central bank’s 2% target. At the same time, some participants argued that the focus of monetary policy decisions should transition from considering “how high” to raise rates to determining “how long” to hold rates at restrictive levels. “A majority of participants judged that one more increase in the target federal funds rate at a future meeting would likely be appropriate, while some judged it likely that no further increases would be warranted,” according to the FOMC minutes released Wednesday.