(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Milano, 12 mag - US futures were lower as a tech-fuelled rally faltered ahead of key inflation data expected to show the impact of the Iran war on prices.

Wall Street ended higher yesterday with the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq up 0.2% and 0.1% respectively to reach new record highs. The Dow closed up 0.2%.

Inflation is expected to grow at an annual 3.7% rate in April, from 3.3% the previous month, as fallout from the war with Iran takes its toll. Stripping out food and energy, prices are expected to grow 2.7%.

The Gulf conflict continues to weigh on sentiment with US president Donald Trump saying the ceasefire with Iran was on 'massive life support' after Tehran's latest peace proposal which he called 'garbage'.

Iran has called for war reparations, full sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and a lifting of sanctions.

Oil prices continued to climb with Brent up 3.3% at more than 107 dollars per barrel.

Trump meanwhile starts his China trip today with a meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping. Trump is accompanied by 16 top CEOs including Tesla's Elon Musk and Apple's Tim Cook.

On the stocks front, shares in Venture Global were up 8.5% in premarket trade after the LNG producer reported a strong rise in profits. Shares in GameStop fell nearly 4% after the videogame retailer's 56-billion-dollar bid for eBay was rejected.

Futures on the Dow Jones were down 47.00 points, or 0.09%, S&P 500 futures were down 31.25 points, or 0.42%, while.

futures on the Nasdaq were down 269.25 points, or 0.92%.

(RADIOCOR) 12-05-26 13:37:54 (0410) 5 NNNN