Wall St headed for higher open after tepid inflation data

Major US stock indexes were set to open higher on Wednesday after data showed underlying consumer prices remained tepid in February, easing concerns about a spike in inflation as an economic recovery gathers momentum.

The 10-year US Treasury yield ticked lower as data showed core consumer prices index inflation rose less than expected as demand for services including airline travel gradually picked up.

Focus is on an auction of US 10-year and 30-year debt later in the day for clues to where yields in the recently volatile market may be headed.

"Expectations for near-term inflation to rise is going to remain due to the huge public borrowings, but the tame inflation data that has come today would definitely drive some optimism among investors," said Arthur Weise, chief investment officer at Kingsland Growth Advisors in New York.

At 8:52 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 176 points, or 0.55%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 15.5 points, or 0.4% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 75.5 points, or 0.59%.

Accelerated vaccine rollouts and a new hefty round of fiscal stimulus on the horizon have raised bets on higher inflation, triggering a sharp rise in Treasury yields that knocked off the tech-heavy Nasdaq about 7% from its Feb. 12 record closing high. The Nasdaq logged its best one-day percentage jump in four months on Tuesday, helped by a near 20% jump in Tesla Inc's shares as investors picked up momentum stocks that had recently taken a beating due to higher yields.

Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp extended gains slightly from the previous session, while economy-linked industrial and bank stocks including Boeing Co, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co also added between 0.8% and 1.2%.

The chunk of a $1.9 trillion relief aid, which is on track to be signed into law later this week, is poised to end up in the stock market and could provide a boost for GameStop and other stocks popular among retail investors active in online social media forums.

Shares of GameStop jumped another 12%, setting the videogame retailer on track for its longest streak of daily gains in six months and extending a rally that has already doubled the company's market value.

Among other "meme" stocks, Koss Corp and AMC Entertainment climbed 44% and 7.4%.