US futures mostly higher as Wall Street braces for latest consumer inflation report

U.S. futures are mostly higher as Wall Street braces for one of the last price reports the government will issue before the midterm elections.Consumer prices are forecast to have risen 3.6% in September compared with a year earlier, up from 3.4% in August, according to a survey of economists by data provider FactSet. The Labor Department will issue the report Wednesday morning.The consumer inflation report comes at a time when Americans are worried about rising grocery and gasoline prices, continuing to have concerns over affordability.Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.2% on Wednesday, while those for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.3%. Nasdaq futures declined 0.1%.Inflation has fallen sharply from a 9.1% peak in 2022, but has ticked higher since the war in Iran began in late February. Elevated inflation has posed political problems for Republicans in Congress and is a challenge for the Federal Reserve, which is required by Congress to seek stable prices.And while gas prices ha