US stock futures trod water on Friday in the wake of a retreat from record highs, as data-starved investors waited for a reprieve from the government shutdown and for earnings season to provide inspiration.
Futures attached to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F), the benchmark S&P 500 (ES=F), and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) all hovered just above the flat line.
The shutdown entered its ninth day on Thursday, with lawmakers still unable to agree on a funding bill. The Senate failed for a seventh time to advance stopgap measures. However, change may be coming as some Republican lawmakers signaled willingness to negotiate on the healthcare subsidies Democrats insist on saving as a condition of reopening the government.
Looking ahead, the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment reading is due Friday morning at 10 a.m. ET. In lieu of the release of government economic data during the shutdown, the report will grab investors’ attention.
Additionally, according to Bloomberg, the Bureau of Labour Statistics plans to release September’s CPI by the month’s end. The report will be a reprieve from the data void and provide critical insight into expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts this year.
After recent days’ flurry of third-quarter results, investors are counting down for earnings season to start in earnest next week, led out by JPMorgan (JPM) and Citigroup (C). Performance is expected to be softer, with analysts betting tariffs will bite into revenue for the quarter.
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