S&P 500 futures rose on Wednesday as investors awaited the release of September’s consumer inflation report, due later in the session.

Futures tied to the broad market index were up 0.2%, while Nasdaq-100 futures
 shed 0.1%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures climbed 162 points, or 0.3%.

Investors are awaiting the September reading of the U.S. consumer price index Wednesday morning. Economists polled by Dow Jones anticipate inflation to have risen by 3.6% on a year-over-year basis, up from 3.4% in the prior reading.

The report arrives as oil prices remain elevated and consumers pay more for gasoline, which is averaging at $4.34 a gallon, compared to $3.08 per gallon a year earlier, according to AAA. Last week President Donald Trump announced he would temporarily ease restrictions on Russian diesel fuel exports, but analysts don’t believe the deal will do much to lower fuel prices for truckers and farmers.

U.S. oil prices moved higher Wednesday, with U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures
 up nearly 2% at about $96 per barrel.

Bank of America shares declined 4% after the banking giant reported third-quarter results. The numbers come a day after BofA was hit with more than $1.2 billion in federal penalties, with regulators saying the bank failed to report more than $5 billion in “suspicious” transactions. Morgan Stanley
’s latest quarterly results topped expectations, though the stock was last trading marginally lower.

A swath of big banks posted strong quarterly results Tuesday, but shares ended the day lower, with Goldman Sachs
 and Citigroup falling. The market’s reaction suggested businesses have a higher bar to clear during the third-quarter earnings season — especially in tech where semiconductors are expected to be the largest contributor to year-over-year earnings growth.

S&P 500 companies are expected to post a blended earnings growth rate of roughly 30%, while semiconductors and semiconductor equipment are set for growth of 130%, according to FactSet data.

“The business fundamentals are very strong. It’s very hard to argue with the demand side of the story for chips,” Marta Norton, chief investment strategist at Empower, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime.” “I don’t know if we necessarily question how good those business fundamentals are as much as we question how much valuation is left in the space.”

In Asia, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.62%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.32%, while South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.82%.

In Europe, the pan-continental Stoxx 600
 added 0.6%, with France’s CAC 40 rising 0.6% along with Germany’s DAX. The U.K. FTSE 100 moved 0.4% higher.