US pre-open: Futures trade lower ahead of PCE reading

Wall Street futures were in the red ahead of the bell on Friday as market participants await a couple of key data points.

As of 1200 GMT, Dow Jones futures were down 0.08%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.28% and 0.45% softer, respectively.

The Dow closed 205.57 points higher on Thursday, taking the blue-chip's winning streak up to five days after a stronger-than-expected Q4 gross domestic product print left investors hopeful that the US economy may experience a soft landing as the Fed continues to hike interest rates in an effort to tame inflation.

Traders will be looking ahead to some key macro points set for publication on Friday, with the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measurement, the personal consumption expenditures price index, taking centre stage. It also comes just ahead of the central bank's policy meeting next week.

CMC Markets' Michael Hewson said: "Yesterday's Q4 GDP numbers showed the US economy expanded by 2.9%, while weekly jobless claims fell again to 186,000 from 192,000 the week before. If there are any concerns that the US economy is on the brink of a recession it's certainly not being reflected in the economic data, which still looks solid, as we look towards next week's Federal Reserve rate meeting.

"Today we get a look at the latest personal spending numbers for December, after seeing a sizeable slowdown in the November numbers to 0.1%, after a strong October showing of 0.9%. If we get a similar weak reading today, and all the forecasts suggest we might, then that would suggest a rising caution amongst US consumers about how the economy is evolving as we head into 2023. We've already seen US banks setting aside hefty loan loss provisions in their most recent earnings numbers, a move which might suggest rising unease that consumers are becoming more frugal with their spending, or that a slowdown might result in credit losses."

On the macro front, December's PCE price index will be published at 1330 GMT, as will personal income and spending figures, while pending home sales data for December and the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index will follow at 1500 GMT.

In the corporate space, American Express, Chevron, and Colgate-Palmolive will all report earnings before the opening bell.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com