U.S. stock index futures traded cautiously higher on Friday, with investors balancing fresh trade tariff announcements from President Donald Trump against anticipation for key inflation data that could guide the Federal Reserve\u2019s next policy moves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Futures Hold Ground Ahead of PCE Report<\/strong> Markets remain on edge over the risk of a U.S. government shutdown, with lawmakers struggling to pass even a stopgap funding bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fed Path in Spotlight as PCE Inflation Looms<\/strong> Fed Chair Jerome Powell\u2019s cautious tone earlier this week, highlighting sticky inflation and a cooling labour market, has already curbed optimism for multiple cuts. ING analysts warned that \u201cupside surprises in GDP and jobless claims make it difficult for markets to agree on upcoming Fed cuts. A benign PCE reading won\u2019t change that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s Tariffs Hit Pharma and Industrials<\/strong> Pharma stocks such as Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and Eli Lilly are expected to be in focus, with sector-wide pressure likely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tech Sector Eyes Semiconductor Policy Risks<\/strong> U.S. stock index futures traded cautiously higher on Friday, with investors balancing fresh trade tariff announcements from President Donald Trump against anticipation for key inflation data that could guide the Federal Reserve\u2019s next policy moves. Futures Hold Ground Ahead of PCE ReportAt 05:25 ET (09:25 GMT), Dow Jones Futures gained 95 points (0.2%), S&P 500 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":110831,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6827,49,39,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-daily-economic-reports","category-economic-reports","category-global-stock-markets","category-market-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119277"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119278,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119277\/revisions\/119278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
At 05:25 ET (09:25 GMT), Dow Jones Futures gained 95 points (0.2%), S&P 500 Futures added 5 points (0.1%), while Nasdaq 100 Futures slipped 26 points (0.1%). The stabilisation came after Wall Street\u2019s three-session losing streak, pressured by strong U.S. economic data \u2014 including lower jobless claims and an upward GDP revision \u2014 that tempered expectations for aggressive Fed easing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Investors are now turning to the release of August\u2019s personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Fed\u2019s preferred inflation gauge. Economists expect core PCE to rise 0.2% month-on-month and remain at 2.9% year-on-year, in line with July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs late Thursday, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
The tech sector may also face headwinds after the Wall Street Journal<\/em> reported that the White House is considering requiring U.S. tech firms to match domestic semiconductor output with imports or face tariffs. The potential policy could reshape supply chains, raising costs and impacting Asian chipmakers heavily reliant on U.S. demand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"