US pre-open: Stocks seen slightly lower as oil slides; Fed speak in focus

US futures pointed to a slightly weaker open on Wall Street amid falling oil prices as investors watched for more Fed speak.

At 1150 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures were down 0.3%, while Nasdaq futures were off 0.2%.

At the same time, oil prices retreated after surging in the previous session when data from the US Energy Information Administration showed crude inventories fell by 14.5m barrels in the week ended 2 September. Analysts had been expecting a gain of 225,000 barrels.

West Texas Intermediate was down 1.6% to $46.86 a barrel while Brent was 1.7% weaker at $49.16.

On Thursday, the European Central Bank left its benchmark refinancing rate at 0% and disappointed investors by making no changes to its trillion-euro bond-buying programme.

FXTM research analyst Lukman Otunuga said: “With the ECB’s inaction sparking fears that central banks have lost confidence in the benefits of further monetary easing, Wall Street could find itself vulnerable to steeper losses.”

Chinese inflation figures were also in focus, as consumer price inflation rose 1.3% in August from a year earlier, down from July’s 1.8% and marking the lowest level since October 2015. It was also weaker than the 1.7% jump expected by economists.

The country’s producer price index fell 0.8% in August from a year ago, which was more or less in line with expectations and compared to a 1.7% fall in July.

Aside from data, investors will also be eyeing comments from Federal Reserve speakers, with Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren due to speak at the South Shore Chamber of Commerce in Boston and Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo set to be interviewed by on CNBC.

On the corporate front, shares in technology giant Apple nudged lower in pre-market trade on pre-order day for the new iPhone 7.

Restoration Hardware surged in pre-market trade after its quarterly sales late on Thursday beat expectations, while Finisar Corp also rose sharply after stronger-than-forecast quarterly results.

The economic calendar was pretty bare, with only wholesale inventories due at 1500 BST.