US futures edge higher as investors await data that could show inflation is running at 40-year highs

US futures edge higher as investors await data that could show inflation is running at 40-year highs

US stock futures marked modest gains Friday, after the benchmark index closed the previous day on a sour note, as investors awaited inflation data later in the day that could put more pressure on the Federal Reserve to clamp down on rising prices. were up 0.26%, climbed 0.13% and gained 0.27% in early European trading Friday, indicating a modest rise at the market open later. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its consumer price index for November, which analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect to have risen by 6.8% compared with the previous year. This would be the biggest jump since June 1982, according to Bloomberg data. October inflation already hit a 31-year high of 6.2%. "We can see today's report as a proxy for next week's Federal Reserve meeting, because the hotter inflation, the more pressure it piles on the Fed to increase their pace of tapering," Matt Simpson, analyst at City Index, said. Asian stocks broadly fell overnight after Fitch Ratings said it considered embattled Chinese property developer Evergrande to be in . was down 0.18% and Hong Kong's fell 1.24%. Tokyo's was 1% lower. "A massive debt restructuring exercise now beckons for China's more highly leveraged