Stocks Mostly Up Pre-Bell Ahead of Consumer Inflation Report, More Bank Earnings

06:48 AM EDT, 10/14/2026 (MT Newswires) -- The main US stock measures were mostly tracking in the green in Wednesday's premarket activity as traders await a key consumer inflation report and more major bank earnings. The S&P 500 rose 0.2%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.4% before the opening bell, while the Nasdaq 100 edged down 0.1%. Wall Street finished Tuesday trading lower, with the Dow snapping a three-day winning streak. The consumer price index report for September is scheduled to be released at 8:30 am ET. Data are expected to show that consumer inflation increased 0.6% sequentially and 3.6% annually, according to a Bloomberg-compiled consensus. Wall Street projects core CPI, which excludes volatile items such as food and energy, to rise 0.2% month over month and 2.5% year over year for September. Treasury yields trended down early Wednesday, with the two-year rate retreating 1.9 basis points to 4.77% and the 10-year rate down 2.3 basis points to 5.19%. Banking heavyweights Bank of America (BAC) and Morgan Stanley are expected to release their latest financial results before the bell, along with BlackRock (BLK), Progressive (PGR), Fastenal (FAST) and State Street (STT). On Tuesday, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter results, while Wells Fargo's (WFC) revenue fell short of market estimates. Goldman Sachs (GS) and Citigroup (C) topped Wall Street projections. Shares of Bank of America were down 1.3% pre-bell after the US Treasury Department fined the lender more than $1.21 billion over violations of anti-money laundering and sanctions laws. Liquidia (LQDA) surged 52% after it reached a settlement with United Therapeutics (UTHR) to resolve all pending litigation between the companies. ASML's (ASML) US-listed stock nudged up 0.3% after the Dutch chip equipment maker reported its latest quarterly results. Wednesday's economic calendar also has the weekly mortgage applications bulletin, followed by the Federal Reserve's Beige Book, a compilation of economic and business reports from the 12 regional Fed branches. Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman is slated to speak at 5:40 am ET and later at 10:55 pm. Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin's remarks are also due on Wednesday. West Texas Intermediate crude oil inclined 0.6% to $94.69 a barrel, while Brent ticked up 0.1% to $105.81. The International Energy Agency projects global oil demand to fall by 2.5 million barrels a day year over year in the fourth quarter and 2.6 million barrels per day on average this year, it said in its October monthly oil market report released Wednesday. "As the Iran war manifests itself through restricted product availability, soaring fuel prices and a deteriorating economic outlook, diesel will register 25% of the drop," according to the agency. Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants continued to escalate, with the Kingdom's energy ministry saying an administrative building belonging to Saudi Aramco was attacked overnight, CNBC reported. Spot gold dipped 0.3% to $4,165 per troy ounce, while bitcoin was up slightly at $83,152.