March 11 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were subdued in choppy trading on Wednesday as investors assessed the outlook for crude prices and looked ahead to a key inflation report, while tensions in the Middle East continued to escalate.
Energy prices whipsawed as traders weighed a report that the International Energy Agency was looking at releasing oil reserves to stabilize supply, in the face of intensifying air strikes in the Middle East that are likely to ground shipping through the strategic
Strait of Hormuz for a while.
Still, remarks from President Donald Trump earlier this week offered markets some reassurance that the war might not be drawn out for months. Oil prices have fallen to under $90 a barrel from nearly $120 earlier in the week.
Later in the day, a report is expected to show consumer prices likely picked up in February as tariffs were passed through to individuals, which could add to worries of rising gasoline costs in the months ahead. The levies were deemed unconstitutional late last month.
Worries that higher energy costs could fan price pressures pushed back expectations for a 25-basis-point interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve to September from July, according to LSEG-compiled data.
Signs of a softening jobs market are likely to further complicate the central bank's monetary policymaking.
"The big concern for the markets is to what extent this supply shock leads to higher inflation, weaker growth, interest rates that are higher than they would otherwise have been, and lower profitability," said Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com.
At 4:57 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 131 points, or 0.27%, and S&P 500 E-minis were down 9.75 points, or 0.14%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 38.5 points, or 0.15%.
Wall Street's fear gauge, the CBOE volatility index, edged higher 0.72 points to 25.65.
Meanwhile, Oracle
Semiconductor stocks such as Nvidia, Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices were marginally higher.
Travel stocks, which are sensitive to energy prices, were mixed on Wednesday. American Airlines edged up 0.3%, while cruise liner Carnival slipped 0.6%.
Remarks from Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman are due later in the day and will be scrutinized for any policy direction.
Investors were also monitoring developments in the private credit space.
JPMorgan Chase
Among others, defense company AeroVironment dropped 9.6% after forecasting 2026 adjusted profit below estimates.
Nike gained 1.8% after Barclays upgraded the athletic wear maker to "overweight" from "equal-weight".
(Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
