Wall St to open subdued ahead of business activity data; geopolitical tensions in focus
By Johann M Cherian and Purvi Agarwal
(Reuters) -U.S. stocks were poised for a subdued start on Friday as investors awaited a business activity survey and monitored geopolitical tensions between Ukraine and Russia.
The benchmark S&P 500 and blue-chip Dow closed Thursday at one-week highs, with AI bellwether Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA ) managing modest gains after its quarterly forecast, while investors took comfort from robust economic data. In premarket trading on Friday, Nvidia dropped 0.5%.
Market attention is now on a S&P business activity survey due at 9:45 a.m. ET, with forecasts pointing to services activity still in expansion territory, while manufacturing is expected to remain in contraction.
At 08:43 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 6 points, or 0.01%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 6.25 points, or 0.1% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 43.5 points, or 0.21%.
The three main indexes are on track to end the week higher, with sentiment still strong about the positive implications Donald Trump's tax and tariff policies could have for corporates after his win in the presidential election.
Further, much of the gains this year have been led by technology-related stocks, popularly called as the 'Magnificent Seven'.
"A lot of investors have positioned in those (stocks) and have been for a long time. People are cautious because it's really hard to sell anything at this point because you don't want to take the capital gains at the end of the year but you want to reduce your risk," said Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager, Globalt Investments.
Futures tracking small caps inched up 0.2% and the Russell 2000 index was set for weekly advances of about 2%.
However, expectations on the Federal Reserve's policy move in December have recently swayed between a pause and a cut, as investors weigh the impact Trump's policies can have on price pressures.
There is a 59.4% probability the central bank will lower borrowing costs by 25 basis points, as per the CME Group's (NASDAQ:CME ) FedWatch Tool. Most brokerages also back a quarter-point cut.
Comments from Federal Reserve Board Governor Michelle Bowman will also be parsed later in the day.
Markets were also monitoring a missile exchange between Ukraine and Russia after the latter lowered its threshold for a nuclear retaliation earlier in the week. Energy stocks are the most sensitive to geopolitical risks and have gained over 2% this week.
Among top movers, Gap Inc (NYSE:GAP ) jumped 20% after the Old Navy parent raised its annual sales forecast and said the holiday season was off to a "strong start".
Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU ) lost 2.6% after the TurboTax parent projected second-quarter revenue and profit below Wall Street estimates on Thursday.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL ) dipped 1% and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN ) was flat.
On Thursday, the Google parent slid after prosecutors argued it was monopolizing online search, while a report said Europe will start an investigation next year into whether Amazon favors its own brand products on its online marketplace.
Most crypto stocks slipped, with bitcoin trading shy of $100,000. Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN ) dropped 1.8% and MARA Holdings lost 2.7%, while MicroStrategy added 2%.
Source: Investing.com
