US stocks look set to open slightly lower in Wednesday's trading session, as investors keep a wary eye on Middle East events and surging oil prices, while they parse inflation data that met analyst forecasts.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.4%, while S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures declined 0.2% each.
The US consumer price index rose 0.3% in February, up from 0.2% the previous month, and matched analyst forecasts, according to a survey compiled by Bloomberg. The annual rate remained at 2.4%, which also met Street expectations.
Monthly core CPI, which excludes food and energy components, met analyst forecasts with a 0.2% rise, from a 0.3% gain in January.
Oil prices were soaring, with front-month global benchmarks North Sea Brent crude rising 4.1% to $91.87 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 4.9% to $87.5 per barrel.
In other world markets, Japan's Nikkei climbed 1.4%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was off 0.2%, and China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.3%. Meanwhile, in Europe's early afternoon session, the UK's FTSE 100 declined 1%, while Germany's DAX fell 1.8% and France's CAC was down 1%.
In equities, shares of Domo (DOMO) surged 41% after the company reported overnight a swing to fiscal Q4 non-GAAP earnings and higher revenue.
Auna (AUNA) shares were up 19% after the company reported late Tuesday higher Q4 revenue.
Oracle (ORCL) stock advanced 9.4%, after the company reported higher fiscal Q3 adjusted earnings and revenue Tuesday, while setting a higher-than-expected fiscal Q4 adjusted EPS outlook.
On the losing side, Kosmos Energy (KOS) shares dropped nearly 18% after it said late Tuesday that it priced an underwritten public offering of 97.5 million of its common shares at $1.90 apiece for gross proceeds of about $185.3 million.
Shares of Groupon (GRPN) were down 9.8% after it reported after hours Tuesday Q4 revenue that missed analyst forecasts.
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