us stock futures were a touch firmer tuesday as investors awaited crucial inflation data  on monday the dow jones industrial average djia rose 529 points or 158 to 34005 the sp 500 spx increased 56 points or 143 to 3991 and the nasdaq composite comp gained 139 points or 126 to 11144 the nasdaq composite is up 8 from its 2022 low hit in mid october but remains down 288 for the year to date trading was muted early on tuesday ahead of an important consumer price index report due for release at 830 am eastern “it’s been a donothing day as investors take stock before the onslaught of a series of highrisk events” said stephen innes managing partner at spi asset management investors wish to see further evidence that inflation is continuing to slip from the four decade peak of 91 hit in june and that this will allow the federal reserve to be less aggressive in hiking interest rates the sp 500 has fallen 163 so far this year in the face of the fed raising borrowing costs by 375 basis points since march the yearonyear cpi for november is forecast by economists to show a decline to 73 from 77 last month the number should color the fed’s thinking as it prepares to deliver its latest monetary policy decision on wednesday when the market expects it to raise rates by 50 basis points to a range of 425 to 450 “we don’t get many days as important as the next two and the us cpi today and the fomc fed tomorrow are likely to be the difference between a big santa claus rally and a visit from scrooge ahead of christmas” said jim reid strategist at deutsche bank in a morning note “bear in mind the sp 500’s best and worst day of the year so far have both come on a cpi day and it was only last month that the downside surprise triggered a seismic market reaction leading to the biggest oneday gain for the sp 500 554 since april 2020 and the largest daily decline in the 2year treasury yield 247bps since 2008” reid added mark newton head of technical strategy at fundstrat understood why traders were cautious “overall this remains a difficult spot to place big bets ahead of a very busy week of economic and political developments” “my shortterm analysis suggests a stalling out in this bounce into tuesdaywednesday at 4050 before turning back down 3906 will prove to be important as support and only if 4100 is exceeded will chasing this rally over the next few weeks prove correct spx above 4025 looks like a poor riskreward” newton added in europe the stoxx 600 sxxp was barely changed as traders eyed monetary policy decisions from the european central bank and bank of england on thursday