The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a higher open on Friday, as investors react to the release of closely watched inflation data.
Early buying interest may be generated in reaction to a Commerce Department report showing readings on consumer price inflation in the month of May came in line with economist estimates.
The report said the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index came in unchanged in May after rising by 0.3 percent in April. The unchanged reading matched expectations.
The core PCE price index, which excludes food and energy prices, inched up by 0.1 percent in May after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.3 percent in April.
Economists had expected the core PCE price index to tick up by 0.1 percent compared to the 0.2 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.
The Commerce Department also said the annual rates of growth by the PCE price index and the core PCE price index both slowed to 2.6 percent from 2.7 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively. The slowdowns also matched estimates.
The readings on inflation, which are said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve, were included in the Commerce Department’s report on personal income and spending.
The report showed personal income climbed by slightly more than expected, while personal spending rose by slightly less than expected.
The slowdowns in the annual rates of consumer price growth may lead to optimism about the outlook for interest rates, as Fed officials have repeatedly said they need greater confidence inflation is slowing before they will consider cutting rates.
With traders looking ahead to today’s release of closely watched inflation data, stocks turned in a lackluster performance during trading on Thursday. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.
The major averages eventually ended the session modestly higher. The Dow crept up 36.25 points or 0.1 percent to 39,164.06, the Nasdaq rose 53.53 points or 0.3 percent to 17,858.68 and the S&P 500 inched up 4.97 points or 0.1 percent to 5,482.87.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the key inflation data on Friday.
On the U.S. economic front, a report released by the Labor Department showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by more than expected in the week ended June 22nd.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims dropped to 233,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 239,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 236,000 from the 238,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Department released a report showing new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods unexpectedly crept higher in the month of May.
The report said durable goods orders inched up by 0.1 percent in May after rising by a downwardly revised 0.2 percent in April.
Economists had expected durable goods orders to slip by 0.1 percent compared to the 0.6 percent increase that had been reported for the previous month.
Excluding an increase orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders edged down by 0.1 percent in May after climbing by 0.4 percent in April. Ex-transportation orders were expected to rise by 0.2 percent.
Most of the major sectors showed only modest moves on the day, contributing to the lackluster performance by the broader markets.
Networking stocks saw considerable strength, however, with the NYSE Arca Networking Index climbing by 1.3 percent.
Significant strength was also visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 1.3 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index.
Airline, gold and software stocks also saw notable strength, while a steep drop by shares of Micron (NASDAQ:MU) weighed on the semiconductor sector.
Micron plunged by 7.1 percent after the chipmaker reported better than expected fiscal third quarter results but provided guidance that disappointed investors.