NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks inched higher early Monday ahead of the release of January US inflation data expected to heavily influence key monetary policy decisions.

Market watchers awaiting Tuesday’s consumer price index report have penciled in further moderation, which would ease the pressure on the Federal Reserve to prolong interest rate hikes for significantly longer.

However, several Fed officials have said in recent days they expect more interest rate hikes.

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On Monday, Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said tightness in the labor market was continuing to put pressure on prices.

“We are still far from achieving price stability, and I expect that it will be necessary to further tighten monetary policy to bring inflation down toward our goal,” Bowman said in Florida.

About 10 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2 percent at 33,946.25.

The broad-based S&P 500 also advanced 0.2 percent to 4,097.59, along with the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index, which stood at 11,740.49.

Other economic releases this week include a report on retail sales on Wednesday and housing starts on Thursday, both for January.