wall street stock index futures edged higher on wednesday as traders absorbed news of deflation in china and looked ahead to the us july consumer price index data due thursday on tuesday the dow jones industrial average djia fell 159 points or 045 to 35314 the sp 500 spx declined 19 points or 042 to 4499 and the nasdaq composite comp dropped 110 points or 079 to 13884 it was the five drop in six sessions for the sp 500 news of falling consumer prices in china  which fell 03 for the year to july  dovetails with the countrys weak trade data released this week and raises concerns that growth is faltering in the worlds second biggest economy china is now witnessing the actual cost of goods both in stores and at the factory gate falling it is indicative of a significant slowdown in the chinese economy which is beset by high levels of indebtedness said steve clayton head of equity funds hargreaves lansdown however traders also note that deflationary pressures emanating from china may help further reduce goods inflation in the us and elsewhere thereby helping central banks to soon stop raising borrowing costs the upshot is a mildly positive mood across markets as investors welcome how stocks rallied off tuesdays lows and as they await the july us consumer price index data on thursday and producer prices on friday markets dont appear too adventurous ahead of the us cpi instead traders are reverting the riskoff trade from overnight markets after yet another august storm front passed but much of the move is likely preus cpi housekeeping given that stocks bonds and currency markets react wildly to cpi beats and misses said stephen innes managing partner at spi asset management helping support sentiment was a better showing in europe where italian banks led the sector higher after rome watered down its windfall tax proposals meanwhile the second quarter corporate earnings season continues with roblox rblx penn entertainment penn wynn resorts wynn and walt disney dis presenting their numbers penn entertainment stock surged after agreeing on a sportsbet partnership with disneys espn there are no top drawer us economic data due on wednesday this content was created by marketwatch which is operated by dow jones  co marketwatch is published independently from dow jones newswires and the wall street journal