Dow futures tick higher, Nike shares sprint up premarket
Investing.com -- U.S. stock futures pointed higher on Friday, suggesting an extension of gains made in the prior session, although equities are still on track to slump to a negative September.
At 06:58 ET (10:58 GMT), the Dow futures contract had added 167 points or 0.5%, S&P 500 futures increased by 22 points or 0.5%, and Nasdaq 100 futures jumped by 102 points or 0.7%.
The main indices on Wall Street finished in the green on Thursday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite the outperformer following a climb of 0.8%. Stocks were supported by a pull-back in U.S. Treasury yields from 16-year highs.
Heading into the final trading day of both the month, the Nasdaq and benchmark S&P 500 are on course to slip to their worst months so far this year, while the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average is on pace to decline by 3%.
On the data front, investors will be keeping an eye on the latest U.S. personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index — the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge — due out later on Friday. Attention has been fixed recently on the Fed's future interest rate path, as well as a spike in oil prices and an ongoing budgetary stand-off in Washington that threatens to cause a government shutdown.
PCE looms large
Economists expect the headline PCE reading for August to accelerate slightly, an occurrence that would suggest lingering upward pressure on prices in the world's largest economy.
The measure is seen speeding up to 0.5% from 0.2% in July on a monthly basis. Year-on-year, it is projected to jump to 3.5% from 3.3%.
However, the pace of the so-called "core" index, which strips out items like food and energy, is forecast to remain unchanged month-on-month and decelerate to 3.9% from 4.2% annually.
Fed
Read more on investing.com
