Dow, S&P 500 eye higher open as regional banks rise; key inflation data awaited

Dow, S&P 500 eye higher open as regional banks rise; key inflation data awaited

The Dow and S&P 500 indexes eyed a higher open on Monday ahead of a key inflation reading during the week that will be scrutinized for whether the Federal Reserve’s efforts to cool prices were taking hold, while shares of PacWest led a rally among regional banks.Regional lenders’ shares stretched gains from a rebound on Friday, with PacWest Bancorp jumping 35.8% premarket after the lender sharply cut its quarterly dividend to boost capital. Peers Western Alliance Bancorp, Comerica Inc and Zions Bancorp rose between 8% and 12.3%.

Shares of such banks tumbled for much of last week on worries tied to the collapse of First Republic Bank.At 8:29 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 95 points, or 0.28%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 9.75 points, or 0.23%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 3.5 points, or 0.03%.The spotlight will be on the Labor Department’s inflation data on Wednesday, which is expected to show the consumer price index (CPI) likely climbed 0.4% in April after gaining 0.1% in March, while excluding the volatile food and energy components, the CPI likely increased 0.4% last month.

“President Joe Biden and top lawmakers from Congress are due to meet onTuesdayto resolve the stand-off over the $31.4 trillion U.S. debt ceiling.U.S. stock indexes staged a late-week rally on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting its biggest one-day percentage gain since Jan. 6 after upbeat results from Apple Inc and U.S. jobs data highlighting a resilient labor market.Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s Class B shares rose 1.4% after the company posting a $35.5 billion first-quarter profit, reflecting gains from stocks such as Apple. Dish Networklost 4.5% after the pay TV and wireless communications service provider reported first-quarter revenue below estimates.

Tupperware Brands Corp slipped 8.5% after the company said it had engaged investment bank Moelis & Co LLC to explore strategic alternatives.American Airlines Group Inc rose 3.2% after J.P. Morgan raised its rating to “overweight” from “neutral”.