U.S. stock futures were mixed early Friday after big-name technology stocks led declines yesterday.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 37 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures were up less than 0.1%, while contracts tracking the technology-heavy Nasdaq slipped 0.1%. The Dow and Nasdaq both fell about 1% on Thursday, though they had posted a string of record-high closes before that.
A lower-than-expected inflation reading yesterday boosted most stocks on optimism that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates as soon as September.
But tech stocks such as Nvidia and Tesla had a bad day, which was enough to bring the overall index down. Producer price data today will add to the inflation picture for Fed policy makers, who make their next decision at the end of the month.
“Recent months have brought some of the weakest inflation numbers since the current surge began in 2021, and it’s led to growing expectations that the Fed will finally be able to start cutting rates in the months ahead,” said Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid.
Bond yields fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury bond was at 4.223% early Friday compared with 4.29% Thursday. The yield on the 2-year note was at 4.629%, compared with 4.639% yesterday.