By Johann M. Cherian and Purvi Agarwal
(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday as investors turned cautious ahead of a probe into corporate activity and monitored geopolitical tensions between Ukraine and Russia, although Wall Street’s major indexes were poised for weekly gains.
The benchmark S&P 500 and the blue-chip Dow closed at one-week highs on Thursday, with AI whistleblower Nvidia posting modest gains after its quarterly forecast, while investors took comfort in robust economic data. In premarket trading on Friday, Nvidia fell 0.4%.
The market’s attention is now focused on an investigation into S&P’s business activities, scheduled for 9:45 a.m. ET. Forecasts indicate that services activity is still in expansion territory, while manufacturing is expected to continue to contract.
At 7:02 a.m., the Dow E-minis were down 29 points, or 0.06%, the S&P 500 E-minis were down 8.25 points, or 0.14%, and the Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 49 .25 points, or 0.24%.
The three major indices are on track to end the week higher, with sentiment still strong on the positive implications Donald Trump’s tax and tariff policies could have for business following his presidential election victory.
Futures tracking small caps rose 0.2% and the Russell 2000 index was set for weekly gains of about 2%.
However, expectations for the Federal Reserve’s December policy shift have been swinging between a pause and a cut lately as investors weigh the impact Trump’s policies could have on price pressures.
There is a 59.4% chance that the central bank will cut borrowing costs by 25 basis points, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.
“Strong economic growth is good for business, but strong business is not necessarily good for curbing inflation. Add to that Trump’s plans to cut taxes and impose tariffs… and the inflation outlook does not appear supportive of continued Fed rate cuts. ‘, said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.
Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman’s comments will also be parsed later in the day.
Markets also kept an eye on a missile exchange between Ukraine and Russia after Russia lowered the threshold for a nuclear retaliation earlier this week. Energy stocks are the most sensitive to geopolitical risks and are up more than 2% this week.
Among top gainers, Gap Inc rose 15.2% after parent company Old Navy raised its annual sales forecast and said the holiday season had gotten off to a “strong start.”
Intuit lost 5% Thursday after its TurboTax parent forecast second-quarter revenue and profit below Wall Street estimates.
