U.S. stock futures edged lower Friday, with renewed concerns about the future path of the Federal Reserve’s interest rates weighing heavily on the tech sector.
By 06:30 ET (10:30 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was down 50 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 Futures traded 5 points, or 0.1%, lower and Nasdaq 100 Futures dropped 20 points, or 0.1%.
The major Wall Street indices closed mixed Thursday, with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average ending almost 60 points, or 0.2%, higher, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.9% and the broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.3%.
Tech stocks hit by rising Fed hike expectations
Stronger-than-expected economic data, including Thursday’s initial jobless claims reading for last week that was lower than expected, has raised concerns that Fed will keep interest rates at elevated levels for longer than previously expected.
This has disproportionately impacted the richly valued tech stocks, with the NASDAQ Composite index down over 2% this week, falling for four days straight.
The Federal Reserve is still widely expected to hold steady on rates when it meets later this month, but this economic resilience suggests that future hikes are not off the table.
Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Lorie Logan said on Thursday that while “forecasts are inherently uncertain. My base case, though, is that there is work left to do.”
The economic data slate is quiet Friday, with wholesale inventories and the consumer credit reading, both for July, the only figures of note expected.
Apple remains in the spotlight
In the corporate sector, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is likely to remain in the spotlight with the world’s most valuable company having seen about $200 billion wiped from its market capitalization in two days on reports of China curbing iPhone use by state employees.
The restrictions point to a potential slowdown in Apple’s iPhone sales, which are the company’s biggest revenue driver. China is also the third-biggest contributor to Apple’s revenue, as of its second-quarter earnings.
Apple is also set to launch its new range of iPhone 15 phones later this month.
Elsewhere, quarterly earnings are due Friday from grocery chain Kroger Company (NYSE:KR).
Crude set for weekly gains
Oil prices gained on Friday, paring back earlier losses despite lingering concerns over the health of the crucial Chinese economy and a stronger dollar.
The main benchmarks are on course for gains of around 2% this week on the back of the news that top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia have extended their voluntary supply cuts to the end of the year.
Additionally, data released late Thursday showed that U.S. inventories shrank a hefty 6.3 million barrels in the week to September 1, falling for the fourth consecutive week.
By 06:30 ET, the U.S. crude futures traded 0.5% higher at $87.30 a barrel, while the Brent contract climbed 0.5% to $90.38.
Additionally, gold futures rose 0.3% to $1.948.35/oz, while EUR/USD traded just higher at 1.0701.
(Oliver Gray contributed to this item.)
