06:50 AM EDT, 10/07/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The benchmark US stock measures were tracking in the red before the opening bell Monday, as traders brace for key inflation data scheduled to be released later in the week.

Standard & Poor's 500 declined 0.5%, the Nasdaq was off 0.7% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 0.4% in the premarket. The majority of Asian exchanges were pointing higher, while European bourses were mostly trending lower.

Investors await the consumer price index for September on Thursday, followed by the producer price index for the same month on Friday. Last week, data showed the US economy added more jobs than estimated in September.

Monday's thin economic calendar has the Federal Reserve's consumer credit bulletin for August at 3 pm ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari is scheduled to speak at 1:50 pm, while Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic speaks at 6 pm. St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem is set to speak at 6:30 pm.

Shares of Pfizer ( PFE ) were up nearly 3% pre-bell following media reports that activist investor Starboard Value has acquired a stake of about $1 billion in the pharmaceutical giant. Arcadium Lithium ( ARLTF ) surged 36% as the company confirmed that Rio Tinto (RIO) made a non-binding approach to acquire the lithium chemicals producer.

JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ) , Wells Fargo ( WFC ) , Pepsico ( PEP ) and Delta Air Lines ( DAL ) report their latest financial results later in the week.

Before the open, bitcoin rose 0.4% to $62,999, West Texas Intermediate crude oil climbed 2.7% to $76.38 per barrel, yields on 10-year Treasuries advanced 2.5 basis points to 4.01% and gold inclined 0.4% to $2,678 an ounce.