Wall Street’s main indexes were set for a lower open on Friday following the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq logging six-session winning streaks after a spate of encouraging economic data fueled a broad rebound led by heavyweight tech and growth stocks.
The benchmark index has recovered from a pullback earlier this month caused by a dour U.S. jobs report and the yen carry trade as better-than-expected data calmed nerves over a sharp slowdown in the world’s largest economy.
U.S. consumer and producer prices data this week indicated inflation was moderating at a pace that would keep the U.S. Federal Reserve on track to start its monetary easing cycle with a 25-basis point rate cut next month as opposed to a more aggressive move.
“The signal from this week’s batch of data is that the sky is not falling out as some investors had started to fear,” said Mike Reynolds, vice president of investment strategy at Glenmede.
“The totality of the data we’ve gotten so far leading into (the next Fed meeting) makes a really strong case for rate cuts.”
The U.S. central bank is now expected to track labor market trends more closely.
Market participants will look to minutes from the Fed’s last policy meeting and Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s outlook of the U.S. economy at the Jackson Hole symposium, an annual gathering of global central bankers, next week for more clues on the rate cut trajectory.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were headed for their best weeks since October, while the Dow was on pace for its best weekly showing since December.
Later in the day, University of Michigan will issue its consumer sentiment survey for August around 10 a.m. ET (1400 GMT).
In an interview with National Public Radio, Chicago Fed chief Autan Goolsbee said the U.S. economy is not showing signs of overheating, so central bank officials should be wary of keeping restrictive policy in place longer than necessary.
St. Louis Fed chief Alberto Musalem and Atlanta Fed boss Raphael Bostic on Thursday had gravitated toward an interest rate cut in September.
At 8:15 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 28 points, or 0.07%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 13 points, or 0.23% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 50.25 points, or 0.26%.
Applied Materials dropped almost 3% in premarket trading following a strong jump ahead of its results. The chip-making equipment firm forecast fourth-quarter revenue slightly above Wall Street estimates.
U.S.-listed shares of Amcor slipped 6.1% after the packaging company reported a more-than-expected decline in fourth-quarter sales, hurt by weaker demand for its containers and cartons.
Crypto- and blockchain-related firms gained as bitcoin rose 2.8%. Miners Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital gained almost 1% each, while iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF added 2.2%.
U.S. equities saw inflows for the seventh straight week last week, with large caps seeing the bulk of inflows while growth stocks saw slight outflows, according to BofA data.
Overall, U.S. stock trading volume has been below its 20-day moving average in the past six sessions as many investors are away for summer break.
(Reporting by Medha Singh and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
