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Oracle jumps as AI demand reignites cloud business

momentum

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Boeing ( BA ) down after report says FAA audit of 737 MAX found

dozens

of issues

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Futures up: Dow 0.32%, S&P 0.63%, Nasdaq 0.83%

(Updated at 8:45 a.m. ET/ 1245 GMT)

By Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Shashwat Chauhan

March 12 (Reuters) -

Wall Street was set to open higher on Tuesday, as traders

held on to bets that the Federal Reserve will cut rates in the

coming months following inflation data.

A Labor Department report showed the Consumer Price Index

(CPI) rose 0.4% on a monthly basis in February, in line with the

0.4% increase expected by economists polled by Reuters.

Excluding volatile food and energy components, consumer

prices increased 0.4% in February after rising by the same

margin in January.

"We're on a glide path to a June rate cut and I don't

think that there's any kind of change to that yet," said Robert

Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth.

"I'm still expecting three rate cuts sometime this

year."

Traders are now seeing a 70% chance of the first rate

cut coming in June, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, from 71%

ahead of the data.

Last month's stock market rally was slowed by data showing

signs of a robust economy and sticky inflation, as traders

pushed back their expectations on the timing of the Fed's first

rate cut to June from March.

At 08:45 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 126 points,

or 0.32%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 32.5 points, or 0.63%,

and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 148.5 points, or 0.83%.

Megacap growth stocks advanced in premarket trading, led by

AI darling Nvidia ( NVDA ), which was up 2.8%.

Oracle jumped 12.3% on signs the firm was making

progress in its plan to grab a share of the cloud-computing

market, thanks to its tie-up with AI chip giant Nvidia ( NVDA ).

Boeing ( BA ) shed 1.4% after a report said an audit by the

Federal Aviation Administration found dozens of problems with

the 737 MAX's production.