Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 17, 2024.
NYSE
U.S. stock futures fell on Thursday evening as traders anticipated the latest reading of the Federal Reserve’s favorite inflation gauge.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 119 points, or about 0.3%. S&P 500 futures also dropped around 0.3%, while Nasdaq 100 futures slid 0.4%.
Futures took a turn lower after a Trump-endorsed House Republican measure to fund the government for three months and avert a government shutdown failed on Thursday night. Without a deal to fund the government and a bill that’s passed the House and Senate and has been signed into law, a partial shutdown is slated to start Friday night.
During Thursday’s trading session, the Dow was the only major average of the three to close in positive territory, eking out a 15-point gain and ending a 10-day losing streak — its longest since 1974. That marks its first session in the green since Dec. 5, when the index fell more than 200 points.
Thursday’s slim gain for the Dow — and narrow losses for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite — came as the 10-year Treasury yield popped for a second day and kept stocks under pressure.
Investors are now looking ahead to November’s reading of the personal consumption expenditures price index – the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation metric. The report, which is set to release Friday, could take on even more significance after Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated this week that PCE will likely show the 12-month inflation rate to be above the central bank’s 2% goal.
Analysts polled by Dow Jones expect the index to rise 0.2% on the month and show an annual reading of 2.5%. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, is also expected to rise 0.2% on a monthly basis and 2.9% annually.
“Whatever the reaction is going to be, it’s probably going to be more severe one way or the other than it would have been prior to seeing the Fed really increase those expectations,” Mike Dickson, head of research and quantitative strategies at Horizon Investments, told CNBC.
This follows the Fed earlier this week cutting interest rates by a quarter point and indicating that it would likely only lower rates twice in 2025, fewer times than previously anticipated. That sent the market into a tailspin Wednesday, with all three indexes sinking.
This latest bout of turbulence also put the major averages on track for sharp weekly losses. The S&P 500 and the Dow are down more than 3% week to date, while the Nasdaq is off more than 2% in the period.
Other economic reports are also due on Friday, including the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index.
– CNBC’s Sarah Min and Christina Wilkie contributed to this report.
