07:22 AM EDT, 03/13/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US equity markets inched higher in Wednesday premarket trading as traders digest a consumer price index report that showed inflation accelerated sequentially in February.

Standard & Poor's 500 futures and the Dow Jones Industrial Average nudged 0.1% higher each, while the Nasdaq edged down 0.1% before the opening bell. Asian exchanges were mixed to lower while European bourses were mostly pointing higher.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday reported that the consumer price index advanced 0.4% sequentially last month, increasing from January's 0.3% gain, matching Wall Street's expectations. Core inflation, which excludes the volatile food and energy components, also rose 0.4% in February, unchanged from the month prior. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg estimated a 0.3% increase.

On Wednesday's economic calendar, the weekly mortgage applications bulletin is out at 7 am ET, followed by the revised fourth-quarter services survey at 10 am. The weekly EIA domestic natural-gas supplies report posts at 10:30 am.

Dollar Tree (DLTR), Williams-Sonoma (WSM), Arcos Dorados (ARCO), ZIM Integrated Shipping Services (ZIM) and Petco Health and Wellness (WOOF) report their latest financial results pre-bell, among others. Lennar (LEN, LEN.B), UiPath (PATH) and SentinelOne (S) disclose earnings after the markets close.

In premarket action, bitcoin traded up 2.5% at $73,334, West Texas Intermediate crude inclined 1.5% to $78.72 a barrel, yields on 10-year Treasuries inched 0.6 basis points higher to 4.16% and gold moved 0.1% up to $2,169 an ounce.