07:56 AM EDT, 08/12/2026 (MT Newswires) -- The main US equity benchmarks were trending higher in Wednesday's premarket activity as traders await a key inflation report.

The S&P 500 was up 0.2%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1% higher, while the Nasdaq added 0.6% before the opening bell. The three indexes finished Tuesday trading lower for a second consecutive session.

The official US consumer price index report for July is scheduled to be released at 8:30 am ET. Data are expected to show that consumer inflation increased 0.1% sequentially and 3.4% annually, according to a Bloomberg-compiled consensus.

Wall Street is also projecting core CPI - which excludes volatile items such as food and energy -- to advance 0.2% month over month and 2.5% year over year for last month.

US Treasury yields were down in premarket action Wednesday, with the two- and 10-year rates retreating 1.5 and 1.6 basis points, respectively, to 4.2% and 4.67%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil increased 0.3% to $83.43 a barrel before the open, while Brent was little changed at $88.95.

The International Energy Agency now forecasts global oil demand to drop by 1.6 million barrels a day this year, 510,000 barrels more than its previous estimate last month, as the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz and high crude prices weigh on consumption, the agency said Wednesday.

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis killed six people in an attack on a container ship in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, an alternative route to the Strait of Hormuz, CNBC reported. The US Central Command said in a post on X that its forces disabled the steering gear of a cargo vessel that allegedly attempted to transit the Gulf of Oman and breach its Iranian blockade.

On Tuesday, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Mohsen Rezaei reportedly said the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed as long as the US does not accept Tehran's conditions. Previously, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told Bloomberg News that the US and Iran were close to "some sort of an arrangement."

Shares of CoreWeave ( CRWV ) jumped 18% pre-bell after the company overnight reported better-than-expected second-quarter results amid strong demand for cloud computing. Super Micro Computer ( SMCI ) gained nearly 9% in premarket activity as the company issued an upbeat fiscal 2027 revenue outlook.

Cisco Systems ( CSCO ) is scheduled to report its latest financial results after the markets close, while Nebius ( NBIS ) , Performance Food Group ( PFGC ) , Trimble (TRMB), Brinker International ( EAT ) and Global-E Online ( GLBE ) post their earnings before the bell, among others.

Wednesday's economic calendar also has the weekly mortgage applications bulletin at 7 am, followed by the weekly EIA domestic petroleum inventories report at 10:30 am.

Gold inclined 0.7% to $4,473 per troy ounce, while bitcoin rose 0.9% to $64,136.