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U.S. stocks were set for a rebound on Tuesday after a bruising selloff a day earlier pushed the S&P 500 to confirm a bear market, with investors taking relief from a smaller-than-expected rise in core producer prices.
The benchmark S&P 500 on Monday closed 20% below its all-time closing high hit on Jan. 3, while a key part of the Treasury yield curve inverted for the first time since April on mounting fears that the Federal Reserve's attempts to control soaring inflation will dent the economy.
The selling pressure eased on Tuesday, with market heavyweights such as Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc , Microsoft Corp and Tesla up between 0.5% and 1% in premarket trading.
Oracle Corp was another gainer after posting upbeat quarterly results on demand for its cloud products. Its shares jumped 12.2%.
The producer price index for final demand rose 0.8% last month after advancing 0.4% in April, the Labor Department said, in line with economists expectation of a 0.8% rise.
Excluding the volatile food, energy and trade services components, producer prices rose 0.5% in May, slightly below the estimated rise of 0.6%.
"We're seeing a bit of a snap back because of the very sharp sell off we've experienced, but there's not a lot of conviction as to how sustainable even a one-day rally is likely to be," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA.
The mood remained fragile ahead of the Fed's policy decision on Wednesday. Investors expect the U.S. central bank to raise interest rates by a big 75 basis points after last week's consumer price inflation data came in much hotter than anticipated.
At 08:53 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 120 points, or 0.39%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 22 points, or 0.59%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 102.75 points, or 0.91%.
Among other stocks, medical equipment maker ResMed Inc rose 1.0% after announcing a $1 billion deal for German healthcare software provider MEDIFOX DAN GmbH.
Coinbase Global Inc fell 5.8% after announcing it would slash 18% of its workforce, or about 1,100 jobs, as part of its efforts to cut costs amid volatile market conditions.
Continental Resources Inc jumped 9.6% after the shale producer received an all-cash buyout proposal from its founder Harold Hamm, valuing the company at $25.41 billion.
United Airlines Holdings Inc rose 0.7% after saying searches for international travel increased after the United States last week ended requirement that air travelers arriving in the country test negative for COVID-19.
(Reporting by Anisha Sircar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Anil D'Silva)