Stock futures today: Live updates

Stocks rose on Wednesday as investors shook off fresh inflation data and cheered a large merger in the energy space. Treasury yields continued to retreat from the 16-year highs reached last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 44 points, or 0.1%, putting it on track for its fourth straight day of gains. The S&P 500 advanced less than 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite traded 0.3% higher.

The producer price index rose 0.5% for September, coming out higher than the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.3% rise. While slightly higher than what economists’ expected, the September figure still represented a slowing from the 0.7% producer prices increase in the prior month.

The 10-year Treasury yield declined even after the hotter-than-expected inflation data, hitting its lowest level since Sept. 29. The 10-year recently lost more than 5 basis points to 4.59%. The 2-year yield, meanwhile, moved higher by less than 1 basis point to 4.993.

“If rates continue to move lower, I think that will be the primary driver of a reasonable rebound in the equity market,” Lauren Goodwin, director of portfolio strategy at New York Life Investments, said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Tuesday.

“It’s also about supply and demand dynamics,” she added. “These past couple of days, we’ve had a little bit of relief from Fed narratives and also a little bit of risk mitigating type of buying. But Treasury supply is still overwhelming, we expect it to remain that way.”

Earlier Wednesday, Exxon Mobil agreed to buy shale driller Pioneer Natural Resources in an all-stock transaction worth $59.5 billion, the largest merger announced on Wall Street this year. Pioneer shares were up 1%, while Exxon was down by about 3%.

Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting due in the afternoon will offer further insight into the central bank’s hiking cycle after it chose to skip an interest rate increase last month.

Traders are also looking ahead to Thursday’s consumer price index report for September.

Investors continue to assess the ongoing war unfolding between Israel and Hamas after the militant group launched an attack on Israeli civilians in what marked the deadliest offensive the country’s experienced in 50 years. President Joe Biden condemned the Hamas attacks as terrorism in remarks Tuesday and said that the United States stands with Israel.