Future earnings after inflation data By Reuters

By Medha Singh

(Reuters) – US stocks should open higher Thursday, especially in the health sector, a day after major Wall Street indexes hit record highs, while comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, have justified a reduction in interest rates this month.

Equity futures have made some progress after a Labor Department report showed that underlying consumer prices in the US had risen most sharply in almost a year and half in June.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI), excluding volatile components of food and energy products, rose 0.3% in June. The overall CPI edged up 0.1%, which is in line with May's increase, compared to expectations that the index would have remained unchanged.

"It's a little higher than expected, but it seems like it will take a lot more than a monthly data point to get Powell away from his dovish attitude," said Mike Loewengart, vice president. Investment Strategy at E * TRADE Financial Corp.

"The Fed has pretty much stated that the downsides of a slowing economy and ongoing trade tensions outweigh the benefits of an inflation figure in Goldilocks and that last week's strong jobs were at the rendezvous. "

On his first day of testimony before Congress, Powell said the US economy was still threatened by disappointing industrial activity, controlled inflation and a fierce trade war. His two-day testimony will resume at 10 am Thursday, Thursday.

The hope that the Fed intervenes to mitigate the effects of a record economic expansion in the United States has allowed major Wall Street indexes to resume their recovery after a fall in May.

The benchmark S & P 500 () benchmark climbed about 19% this year and briefly broke the 3,000 mark mark for the first time on Wednesday. Blue-chip increased by 15%, while technology-rich Nasdaq gained 24%.

Shares of health insurers such as UnitedHealth Group Inc (N :), Cigna Corp (N 🙂 and drug distributors like McKesson Corp. (N 🙂 gained between 9.5% and 3.5% prior to marketing after being informed that the Trump administration had withdrawn its proposal for the drug. eliminate government drug plan rebates.

The top ten companies among the S & P 500 companies that negotiated pre-market were health stocks.

At 8:48 am, up 85 points, or 0.32%. were up 4.5 points, or 0.15%, and were up 9.5 points, or 0.12%.

Delta Air Lines Inc. (N 🙂 grew 1.9% after posting a 39.3% increase in quarterly profits, with the airline benefiting from higher fares and more flying. This comes a day after American Airlines Group Inc. (O 🙂 increased its estimate of second quarter unit revenues. Shares of American, United Airlines Holdings (N 🙂 and Southwest Airlines Co (N 🙂 rose 0.5% to 0.8%.