US pre-open: Dow Jones on track for third-straight losing week

Wall Street futures were pointing to further losses ahead of the bell on Friday amid ongoing inflationary concerns.

As of 1230 GMT, Dow Jones futures were down 0.44%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.61% and 0.79% weaker, respectively.

The Dow closed 431.20 points lower on Thursday, easily reversing gains recorded in the previous session as market participants digested a number of data points that seemed to stoke fears of rate hikes.

Going into the final session of the week, the Dow Jones is 0.51% lower for the week and on track for its third losing week in a row, while the Nasdaq is up 1.18% and the S&P 500 is flat.

Swissquote's Ipek Ozkardeskaya said: "The equity marathon that kept going on for questionable reasons since Tuesday ended in tears yesterday, with the arrival of a new set of economic data that crushed the optimistic rhetoric of soft landing.

"US futures hint at further selloff before the weekly closing bell, as in the absence of important data, investors will have to digest the week's mixed data."

On the macro front, Federal Reserve Reserve Bank of Richmond president Thomas Barkin will deliver a speech at 1330 GMT and the Conference Board's January leading index will be published at 1500 GMT.

In the corporate space, meme stock favourite AMC Entertainment and trade bellwether Deer & Co will report earnings prior to the open.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com