Dow futures rise 70 pts; Fed's preferred inflation gauge due

By Peter Nurse

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks are seen opening marginally higher Friday, bouncing ahead of the release of key inflation data, which could provide clues over future Federal Reserve thinking.

At 07:00 ET (12:00 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 70 points or 0.2%, S&P 500 Futures traded 6 points or 0.2% higher, and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 16 points or 0.2%.

The three major averages closed lower Thursday, with the tech sector leading the markets lower after disappointing results from chipmaker Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU).

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell around 350 points or 1.1%, the broad-based S&P 500 dropped 1.5%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 2.2%.

As the final month of the year draws to a close, these indices are set to snap two consecutive months of wins and are also on course to post their worst yearly performance since 2008, breaking a 3-year win streak, as the Federal Reserve aggressively raised interest rates to combat soaring inflation, stoking recession concerns.

The economic data calendar is packed Friday, including new home sales and the Michigan consumer sentiment index, but the highlight will be November’s personal consumption expenditure report, the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation.

This will be closely watched after the last two consumer price index reports indicated that price pressures appear to be cooling.

In other corporate news, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) will be in the spotlight after CEO Elon Musk said once more that he’ll stop selling his stock for around two years. This comes after the stock had fallen to a two-year low, over worries about softening demand for electric cars, Musk's distraction with his Twitter purchase as well as his disposal of almost $40 billion of his holdings.

Oil prices rose Friday on expectations that Russian supply will be reduced in the new year, while traders digest the impact of the winter storm hitting the U.S.

Russia will halt sales of its oil to the countries which support the price caps introduced by the G7 countries earlier this month, which may mean Moscow reduces its oil production by 500,000-700,000 barrels a day, according to comments from Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak on Friday.

This would tighten global supply even further, likely boosting prices as demand increases, particularly from China as it recovers from its latest COVID outbreak.

Meanwhile, a winter storm is hitting large parts of the U.S., triggering warnings from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico. This has resulted in thousands of flights being canceled but also an increase in demand for energy to heat homes and offices.

By 07:00 ET, U.S. crude futures traded 2.4% higher at $79.36 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 2.8% to $83.25.

Additionally, gold futures rose 0.6% to $1,806.15/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.2% higher at 1.0614.