By Johann M Cherian and Lisa Pauline Mattackal
(Reuters) -U.S. stock index futures slipped on Friday, ahead of a closely watched inflation report that will likely provide markets with some direction about the scale and pace of interest-rate reductions by the Federal Reserve this year.
Wall Street pulled back this week after a recent rally, with the benchmark S&P 500 index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq on track for their first weekly losses in six. A spike in Treasury yields pressured riskier assets, following a weak debt auction and protracted worries of sticky inflation.
A nearly 20% plunge in Salesforce shares on Thursday weighed on the tech sector, dragging the Dow to a nearly one-month low and the S&P 500 to its lowest in two weeks.
Salesforce slipped 0.3% in premarket trading, while technology stocks including Microsoft, Apple and Alphabet fell after the tech sector notched its worst day in over a month in the previous session.
Policymakers have also showed no urgency to ease borrowing costs, while continuing to stress that inflation would fall this year, even as the labor market stays strong.
However, Thursday’s revision in first-quarter economic growth on softer consumption assuaged some fears, as bond yields slipped and expectations for a September rate cut inched up to above 50%. The odds had stayed below those levels for the entire week, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
All eyes will now be on April’s core Personal Consumption Expenditure data, the central bank’s preferred inflation gauge, due at 8:30 a.m. ET. The index is expected to be unchanged from the previous month at 2.8%, on an annual basis.
“Where the actual release lands will determine whether we are entering a new chapter for the Fed disinflation story or whether it remains trapped in the wreckage of sticky inflation,” Chris Turner, global head of markets at ING said in a note.
Comments from Atlanta President Raphael Bostic, a Federal Open Market Committee voting member, are also expected later in the day.
At 7:11 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 36 points, or 0.09%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 12.25 points, or 0.23%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 78.25 points, or 0.42%.
Among big movers, Dell plunged 16% after it forecast current-quarter profit below market estimates and signaled that higher costs to build servers that meet heavy AI workloads would dent its annual margins.
Zscaler jumped 15.4% after the security solutions provider forecast fourth-quarter results above estimates, while Marvell Technology dropped 5.9% after the chipmaker missed Street expectations for first-quarter revenue.
Gap surged 25.1% after the apparel maker raised its annual sales forecast and its first-quarter results beat market expectations, in fresh signs that its turnaround strategy to bring in newer styles is starting to work.
Trump Media & Technology Group dropped 4.4% after a New York jury convicted former President Donald Trump of falsifying documents to cover up a payment to silence a porn star ahead of the 2016 election.
(Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Lisa Pauline Mattackal in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
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