US stock futures slipped slightly on Friday as investors weighed the likely impact of a hot inflation print on Federal Reserve policy and braced for big US bank results to kick off earnings season.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) and the S&P 500 (ES=F) both fell roughly 0.1%, after closing out Thursday with small losses. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) were off 0.2%.
Stocks are treading water as investors continue to parse the latest consumer inflation data, which failed to clearly signal the Fed’s next move on interest-rate cuts.
Read more: What the Fed rate cut means for bank accounts, CDs, loans, and credit cards
The reading, alongside data showing rising unemployment claims, underscored the challenge facing policymakers as they try to nail a “soft landing” for the economy. Given that, an update on wholesale prices for September is likely to be closely watched for when it lands Friday morning.
The day’s main event, though, is the arrival of quarterly results from big Wall Street banks — the traditional starting gun for earnings season.
Reports from JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) are expected before the bell. They should provide a window into the potential impact on lending margins of the Fed’s pivot to rate cuts, and shed light on the state of the consumer.
Meanwhile, BlackRock (BLK) reported that assets under management hit a record high for the third straight quarter, helped by this year’s rally in stocks. Shares in the financial giant rose 1.6% in premarket. In its results, BNY Mellon (BK) posted a 16% jump in profit as net interest income also rose. Shares in BNY were up 1.3% before the bell on Friday.
Also is focus is Tesla’s (TSLA) robotaxi event late Thursday, where CEO Elon Musk revealed a larger Robovan alongside the $30,000 Cybercab. The EV maker’s shares fell 6% amid some disappointment it didn’t offer more concrete details on its strategy to become a force in AI and autonomous driving.