Rate expectations see Wall Street aiming still higher

Wall Street managed to advance a little yesterday, with the Dow nothing up it's seventh successive day of gains as a result. Confidence that a Sino-US trade deal can be struck plus the fact Mario Draghi was seen as having delivered the goods at yesterday's ECB policy meeting helped propel markets higher. Furthermore, that modest undershoot in US CPI is also adding to the upside, with the reading making it just a little easier for the Fed to deliver two rate cuts before the year is out.

Advance retail sales for August are due ahead of the opening bell and again any shortfall here will add pressure onto Jerome Powell and his team to impress markets at next week's FOMC meeting. Consumer sentiment data from the University of Michigan study may also factor in to the Fed's thinking but right now it's fair to say market participants appear convinced good news lies ahead.

Before the open, the market is calling the Dow up 79 at 27261 and the S&P up 7 at 3016.