Futures Hold Gains After Data

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U.S. stock-index futures pointed higher as traders digested inflation data that was in-line with forecasts and a slightly disappointing report on the market for new homes.

Today's Markets

As of 8:40 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures climbed 30 points to 15151, S&P 500 futures gained 3 points to 1637 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 9.8 points to 2975.

The markets kicked off the week on a high note Monday, rallying amid hopes the Federal Reserve won't trim down its bond-buying program too soon. The focus was expected to remain on the U.S. economy, with the central bank starting its two-day policy-setting meeting and two economic reports out.

The Fed's meeting concludes with a decision on Wednesday, and a press conference from Chairman Ben Bernanke. Wall Street widely expects the central bank to say it plans on continuing to buy $85 billion in bonds a month. Although, any hint that the rate will be slowed down is likely to be closely scrutinized, traders said ahead of the decision.

The Labor Department said inflation at the consumer level ticked  up 0.1% in May, slightly less than the 0.2% increase economists’ expected. Excluding the food and energy components, prices were up 0.2%, matching forecasts.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported U.S. housing starts increased 6.8% in May from April to an annualized 914,000-unit rate. Housing permits decreased 3.1% for the month to an annualized rate of 974,000 units.

Elsewhere, Deutsche Bank called an end to the "historic bull-run" in commodity prices, saying prices "are likely to be in subdued territory for years to come." Oil fell 23 cents, or 0.24%, to $97.56 a barrel. Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline dipped 0.04% to $2.856 a gallon. In metals, gold dipped $8.80, or 0.64%, to $1,374 a troy ounce.

Foreign Markets

The Euro Stoxx 50 fell 0.12% to 2699, the English FTSE 100 climbed 0.73% to 6377 and the German DAX dipped 0.1% to 8208.

In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 edged lower by 0.2% to 13007 and the Chinese Hang Seng was flat at 21226.