07:04 AM EDT, 04/09/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US equity futures were tracking in the red before Tuesday's open as traders prepare for the upcoming key inflation report for March.

Standard & Poor's 500 futures and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0.1% in the premarket, while the Nasdaq was off 0.2%. The majority of Asian exchanges were heading north, while European bourses were trending downwards midday on the continent.

Last month's consumer price index is set to be released on Wednesday. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is likely to report Wednesday that the CPI rose 0.3% sequentially and 3.4% annually in March, according to a Bloomberg-compiled consensus.

On Tuesday's thin economic calendar, the National Federation of Independent Business' optimism index showed a 0.9-point fall for last month to 88.5.

Neogen (NEOG) and Tilray Brands (TLRY) are scheduled to report their latest financial results pre-bell, among others. WD-40 (WDFC) and PriceSmart (PSMT) post earnings in the afterhours.

Before the opening bell, bitcoin declined 1.7% to $70,566, West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.2% to $86.56 a barrel, yields on 10-year Treasuries dropped by 3.2 basis points to 4.392% and gold inclined 1.1% to $2,376 an ounce.