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Briefing.com Summary:

*International Energy Agency proposed a 400-million barrel reserve release to lower global oil prices. G7 officials will discuss the proposal today

*Good results and guidance from Oracle (ORCL)

*February CPI

The stock market has endured a bumpy start to the week, leading into today's affair, which is setting up for a lower start, as futures on the S&P 500 trade 17 points above fair value.

The market has fought to withstand this week's volatility with some encouragement from a sharp reversal in the price of oil. However, WTI crude is up nearly 5% today, rising toward $88/bbl ahead of another call between G7 officials, who will discuss a proposal from the International Energy Agency to release 400 million barrels of oil.

The technology sector has been one of this week's pockets of strength and it will be an area of focus today after Oracle (ORCL) beat Q3 expectations, issued above-consensus earnings guidance for Q4, and issued above-consensus revenue guidance for FY27. The results should be supportive for software stocks as they look to build on last week's rebound rally.

Domestic economic data flow will pick up considerably over the next two days. The market received the February CPI report this morning, which was free of major surprises, as total CPI increased 0.3% month-over-month in February (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) and was up 2.4% year-over-year, versus 2.4% for the 12 months ending in January. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, increased 0.2% month-over-month (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%) and was up 2.5% year-over-year, versus 2.5% for the 12 months ending in January.

The lack of a surprise was a positive development since the market is well aware that the reading for March will likely be hot given the recent surge in energy prices.

Treasuries responded by adding to their starting losses with the 10-yr yield rising six basis points to 4.19%.