Wall Street pointed modestly higher before the bell Friday as markets tried to snap a weeklong losing streak ahead of widely anticipated speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Futures for the S&P 500 added less than 0.1%, while those for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%. Nasdaq composite futures inched up 0.1%. The S&P 500 has closed lower for five straight days heading into Friday, its longest such streak since January.
Nvidia reversed course, losing 1.2% in premarket after the company's CEO said the company was in talks with the Trump administration about a potential new computer chip designed for China. The chips are graphics processing units, or GPUs, a type of device used to build and update a range of AI systems. But they are less powerful than Nvidia’s top semiconductors today, which cannot be sold to China due to U.S. national security restrictions.
Intuit slid nearly 6% after the software maker behind TurboTax beat Wall Street forecasts even as the company's Mailchimp email marketing platform continues to drag down growth.
Ross Stores jumped 4% after the clothing and accessory retailer reported strong second-quarter earnings and said that sales rebounded in July, a good sign with the back-to-school shopping season approaching.
The Fed's next meeting is also less than a month away and traders will be on the lookout for cues about future U.S. monetary policy at a meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where Powell is due to speak on Friday
Expectations for a rate cut by the Fed have been dialed back as central bank officials stress concerns over inflation, Mizuho Bank said in a commentary.
“The upshot is that the sands are arguably shifting, but Jackson Hole may not be where lingering hawkish restraint goes to die,” it said. “In other words, Powell may stick to his guns on (interim) restraint.”
A cut in interest rates would be the first of the year, and it would give investment prices and the economy a boost by potentially making it cheaper to borrow to buy cars or equipment. But it could also risk worsening inflation.
The Fed has been hesitant to cut interest rates this year out of fear that President Donald Trump’s tariffs could push inflation higher, but a surprisingly weak report on job growth earlier this month suddenly made the job market a bigger worry. Trump, meanwhile, has angrily pushed for cuts to interest rates, often insulting Powell while doing so.
At midday in Europe, Germany's DAX was largely unchanged after government data showed that its economy shrank by 0.3% in the second quarter compared with the previous three-month period. That's a significantly worse showing than was initially reported as tensions with the U.S. over tariffs simmered.
Britain's FTSE 100 was also flat while in Paris, the CAC 40 ticked up 0.1%.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.1% after Japan’s core inflation rate slowed to 3.1% in July, from 3.3% in June.
ING Economics, in a commentary, said the rate was broadly in line with market consensus. Inflation staying above 3% raises chances of a rate hike as soon as October, it said.
In Chinese markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.9% while the Shanghai composite index climbed 1.4%.
South Korea's Kospi added 0.9%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.6%. Taiwan's TAIEX lost 0.8% and India's BSE Sensex edged 0.6% lower.
